Halloween, what tastes fabulous, looks dark and interesting, but isn't repulsive ?

There was a "Your Best Halloween Treat" contest here at Food52:
https://food52.com/contests/178_your_best_halloween_treat

Grind black tea in a spice grinder and make shortbread with it. I recently made Hojicha & Puerh shortbreads that were black, and divinely delicious.

I second the Forbidden Black Rice - it can be made sweet or savory.

Licorice is black, if you like the flavor.

Blueberry jam, especially made with dried blueberries, is blue-black.

Buckwheat flour can make baked goods very dark blue-grey. I've been making a lot of scones & biscotti with 20% buckwheat flour and the end baked good is quite dark.

Espresso in baked goods makes for a deeply black-brown loveliness.

Brownies are black.

Mole sauce is very dark, and wonderfully complex. A blue masa tamale with mole sauce could look exquisitely creepy and be ridiculously delicious. You could fill it with red bell peppers for a ghoulish effect!

Maybe this is too repulsive, but I've made eyeballs out of fresh mozzarella balls. The Trader Joe's marinated mozzarella balls work really well for this since the flecks of spices in the marinade add a certain gruesome touch to the final product. The easy way is to add a slice of olive with pimento on top to make an iris and pupil, but it looks way better if you use the technique described here: http://dabbled.org/halloween-food-dots-mozzarella-eyeballs/

You can also use Halloween cookie cutters to make pita chips or tortilla chips in spooky shapes.

Thank you everyone. I am new here, not certain how to answer individually. Of course Martha, who else!? I did a practice run of Jello worms today, I will serve them to kids, quite fabulously disgusting, my boyfriend ran away, and my kids ran toward.
Making a red velvet cake, buttercream icing drizzled in raspberry coulis with an axe in it, mini-mummy pizzas, scary (martha) cheese plate, covered in bees. Beer can chicken with old and frightening dolls heads on..... Pumpkin (black) spewing guacamole, witches fingers, a big meat loaf zombie foot.... ummm devilled eggs. I love the squid ink idea... I have pinterested the heck out of this, by the way. Going to study your suggestions, thank you xxx

Yes on the squid ink pasta idea! There is also forbidden rice you can do (make a pilaf tossed with nuts, currants, and cubes of roasted pumpkin. Goat cheese rolled in black pepper or black sesame seeds would be good too.

Here's some other ideas (heh, I too have been collecting spooky party recipes that aren't gross):

http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/2012/10/23/tea-eggs/
http://www.chow.com/recipes/29172-devils-horseback
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=elegant+halloween+dinner
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/popcorn-balls-recipe.html
http://www.witchy-kitchen.com/acorn-squash-and-burrata-toasts/
http://www.marthastewart.com/1004213/true-blood-watch-party-love-first-bite

This looks interesting: http://www.marthastewart.com/341908/cauldron-curry#Our%20Favorite%20Halloween%20Recipes|/275177/our-favorite-halloween-recipes/@center/1006805/halloween-recipes|341908

You could serve this in a hollowed out partially baked pumpkin.

I've also used a pumpkin hollowed out and partially baked to serve a cooked rice pilaf.
By partially...not enough to make it very soft..but enough to warm things through and maybe a little color.

You could probably find a recipe for a vegan curry or something to serve in a pumpkin for Vegan guests.

I would probably have to have a squid ink pasta salad. It can be made ahead and served room temp. You could do an Asian flavor profile with red peppers, green onions and cilantro or parsley so it's not solid black. Also, a friend of mine made little meatball rats with raw carrot slices for ears. I think pinenuts were the eyes. They were so cute, but still Halloweenie.

My Halloween staple for years has been Ghoulash. Basically beef stew, spices and the fancy name with egg noddles. I also have ventured into Bats and Cobwebs (from Martha Stewart) which is bowtie pasta and mozzarella that pulls apart like cobwebs - kids and grownups love it.
http://www.marthastewart.com/341738/bats-and-cobwebs

Might be more than you want to pull off for that many guests, but either black squid ink pasta, or a Spanish arroz negro (or squid ink risotto) would be very dark, interesting and tastes the opposite of repulsive. Also, crostini spread with goat cheese, generously topped with black olive tapenade is easy ad fits your criteria.

Nigella Lawson's Blood & Guts Potatoes,
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/blood-and-guts-potatoes-recipe.html

Easy tasty and scales up well.
We don't limit this to just Halloween ;)

When in doubt, PINTEREST!

Giada had a show with great Halloween treats: http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/search-results.recipes.html?searchTerm=Halloween+&filters=show%1FGiada+at+Home%1F4294961978&form=module&_charset_=UTF-8

I've gotten a lot of ideas from Martha Stewart in the past: http://www.marthastewart.com/275177/our-favorite-halloween-recipes/@center/1006805/halloween-recipes and Yossy Arefi's Spider Cake (https://food52.com/blog/8616-homemade-halloween-spider-cake) might be a good option since you're feeding a crowd.