
Halloween. It’s back—better, bigger, and scarier than ever. Whether you’re donning a costume (you’re never too old for dress up), hosting or attending a Halloween party, or taking the kids trick or treating, you need to make these treats.
All of them are dead easy (see what I did there?) to make, and kids and adults love them. Use them as treats for a party, as homemade trick-or-treat booty, or even as a surprise gift for your kid’s school Halloween celebration.
For us? Well, The One loves chocolate, so it will be this marvelously rich and moist chocolate cake. Maybe I’ll toss some candy corn on top and call it a holiday!
Boo, baby!
Jump To
- 🛒 Your Ultimate Halloween Shopping List
- 👻 Cute & Spooky Treats
- Halloween Meringue Bones
- Spooky Halloween Mummy Treats Kids Will Love
- Halloween Chocolate-Covered Apple Slices
- Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake
- How To Make Natural Food Coloring
- 🍬 Clever Candy Creations
- Leftover Halloween Candy Bark
- Candy Bar S’mores
- 🎃 The Great Pumpkin Patch
- Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
- Pumpkin Cake With Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pumpkin Meringue Pie
- Glazed Pumpkin Pound Cake
- Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars
- Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
- Pumpkin Ice Cream
- Turkish Pumpkin with Walnuts | Kabak Tatlisi
- 🍂 Autumn Harvest Favorites
- Spiced Cider Doughnuts
- Halloween Caramel Apples
- Spicy Pepita Brittle
- Applesauce Bread
- 🦇 Spooky Presentation & Plating Ideas
- 🍴Savory & Spooky Main Courses
- Spicy Eggs in Hell
- Roasted Bone Marrow
- Blackened Red Snapper
- Chocolate Guinness Cake
- 🧪 Eerie Elixirs
- Butterscotch Beer
- Glow in the Dark Jell-O
- Black Velvet Cocktail
- Mexican Bloody Mary
- The Revolver Cocktail
- ❓ Your Halloween Party Questions, Answered
🛒 Your Ultimate Halloween Shopping List
- Pantry Staples: All-purpose flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract, cocoa powder.
- Spooky Staples: Black and red food coloring, candy eyeballs, decorative sprinkles (orange, black, purple), black licorice laces (for spider legs).
- Produce Aisle Haul: Pie pumpkins, apples (Granny Smith for baking, Honeycrisp for eating), pepitas (pumpkin seeds), onions, garlic.
- Dairy & Refrigerated: Butter, cream cheese, heavy cream, eggs, apple cider.
- For the Bar: Gin, stout beer, bourbon, coffee liqueur, Champagne or Prosecco.
👻 Cute & Spooky Treats
Halloween Meringue Bones
Tester Review
These meringue bones are a cinch to make and perfect for decorating your Halloween table or for gobbling up by your little ghosts and gremlins. For added reality, you could dip the ends in strawberry jam or toss the bones in a pile of crushed chocolate-cookie “dirt.”
Beth Price

Spooky Halloween Mummy Treats Kids Will Love
Featured Review
It impresses no one when I tell them I once had a job making Rice Krispie treats… at a little cafe in Madison, Wisconsin, back in 1981. I preferred the peanut butter treats (just add 1/2 cup peanut butter to your basic recipe), and that is what I made as the base for these mummies, which I constructed with our visiting almost-5-year-old… The finished mummies looked great and tasted even better!
Suzanne Fortier
Halloween Chocolate-Covered Apple Slices
Featured Review
What a tantalizing treat! … This one scored big on the “bang for your buck.” My new favourite SweeTango apple is a current staple and I always have chocolate in the pantry. I’m not a big fan of coconut oil, so I used ghee. My daughter and I had so much fun… we dripped chocolate outside the lines… it’s Halloween, no one expects perfection. Once chilled, each bite was a palate teaser… crispy, tart, sweet, and creamy. These were perfection on a stick! Boo!
Gorm3sa & SousChef
Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake
Featured Review
I’ve made this cake twice now and both were absolutely fabulous. The first one had the ganache and my second one, a few days ago, had peppermint buttercream and peppermint fondant. I’m on my third batch now and I’m wondering, what about cupcakes? It’s so moist and lovely and fluffy and I can totally picture it making a perfect cupcake.
NutMeg
How To Make Natural Food Coloring
Featured Review
I decided to do with my preschool class and they loved the whole process!! Thanks for the easy steps.
Mateo
🍬 Clever Candy Creations
Leftover Halloween Candy Bark
Candy Bar S’mores
🎃 The Great Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
Featured Review
I made these last night for a party. I came home with an empty pan. They were gobbled up in seconds. Moist, rich, not overbearingly sweet (I was hopeful when I saw the amount of sugar to use), and very relevant for this time of year. The pumpkin cheesecake swirled effortlessly into the brownie batter and the finished bake was puffed up and well risen. They didn’t sink in the middle. I am making these again tomorrow for work on Monday.
Carlin Brochstein
Pumpkin Cake With Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Featured Review
MAN, was this cake wonderful! I needed a gluten-free dessert for Thanksgiving, so I swapped out the wheat flour and used the same weight of Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Blend (contains xanthan gum). I have better success baking by weight, especially when I’m baking gluten free. I added some chopped praline pecans around the top edge to finish it off. Everyone freaked out about how good it was, even the people who weren’t gluten free! And the cream cheese frosting is downright dangerous!
EEB
Pumpkin Meringue Pie
Featured Review
The second time I made this pie (yes, it’s still November and I’ve made it twice already), I used a torch to brown the meringue. I also made sure to use ALL of the meringue and spread it out to the outer edges of the pie pan. It was even better the second time around!
copis
Glazed Pumpkin Pound Cake
Featured Review
This pound cake really works for me, and it’s a crowd-pleaser to boot… It is equally well-suited as a sweet breakfast or a great dessert. It’s very spice-forward. The flavor is intense and balanced. It comes together quickly with pantry staple ingredients. Though the “snow-capped mountain” glaze is beautiful, I found that I preferred more coverage and more even distribution, so I make my glaze a little thinner, and don’t mind if the cake is still a little warm when I apply. I have also tried using the contents of one vanilla bean in the glaze, rather than vanilla extract. Works great, and adds a little visual interest too. You can’t go wrong. Easy and delicious.
Rebecca
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Bars
Featured Review
OK. This is outrageous. Creamy, rich, and sweet. Loved by my whole crew. I forgot to wrap it with foil before baking, but it didn’t seem to matter… Anyway, BRAVO!
Margo Wickesser
Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Ice Cream
Featured Review
I work in an ice cream shop and also a candy shop (I know, right?) but will still be making this. This ice cream is so incredibly easy. Every time I wonder why I don’t do it more often!
Christina Alexander
Turkish Pumpkin with Walnuts | Kabak Tatlisi
🍂 Autumn Harvest Favorites
Spiced Cider Doughnuts
Featured Review
I am impressed that I didn’t discover this recipe until now. LOL. I added more sugar and they tasted REALLY good. Thank you!
Basmaty
Halloween Caramel Apples
Featured Review
I loved this recipe. Straightforward and unique flavor combination. I was thinking the coated apples would turn out dark mahogany colored, like the picture shows, due to the addition of the blackstrap molasses. Mine turned out to be the standard caramel color. (I did use blackstrap.) If I want that extra dark color, how much blackstrap molasses do I need?
Kristen
Spicy Pepita Brittle
Applesauce Bread
Featured Review
Made this last weekend and had every good intention of taking a picture to post for you BUT… it was all gone before I got to it! The recipe was very easy to make (good, since I was also making dinner & dessert for five the same day) and was really very good. I will definitely be making this one again!
Catherine
🦇 Spooky Presentation & Plating Ideas
- Oreo “Dirt”: Crush chocolate sandwich cookies in a food processor to create edible “dirt.” Sprinkle it on your Chocolate Guinness Cake or around the base of the Pumpkin Meringue Pie for a graveyard effect.
- Spiderweb Dip: Put your dip in a round bowl. Pipe concentric circles of sour cream or yogurt on top, then drag a toothpick from the center outwards to create a spiderweb.
- Dry Ice Cauldron: For a show-stopping effect, place your punch bowl inside a larger, oven-safe cauldron or pot. Carefully add a few small pieces of dry ice to the outer pot with a little warm water to create a continuous, spooky fog. (Always handle dry ice with gloves.) Find dry ice near you.
- Gummy Worm Garnishes: Let gummy worms crawl out of drinks, brownies, and chocolate-cake dirt cups for a creepy-crawly touch.
🍴Savory & Spooky Main Courses
Spicy Eggs in Hell
Featured Review
Love this recipe. I add truffle oil to my toasted rustic bread and a bit of fresh basil to the (very) spicy sauce. Heaven!
Andreea
Roasted Bone Marrow
Featured Review
Made this last night. It. Was. Divine! Did not realize how easy bone marrow is to make and how quickly it cooks. Husband was blown away – said better than at a restaurant. Thank you for the recipe and for the detailed instructions.
Karima
Blackened Red Snapper
Chocolate Guinness Cake
Featured Review
I was rewarded with a nice rich flavor…and a very moist cake. The one thing I noticed…was that the cake did not get the traditional ‘mound’ in the center—it came out flat—no need to trim at all…The richer frosting complemented the cake perfectly without being too heavy.
Pam Kemp
🧪 Eerie Elixirs
Butterscotch Beer
Glow in the Dark Jell-O
Featured Review
Hands down COOLEST libation EVER!!! Love this! Thanks for posting!
Jessica
Black Velvet Cocktail
Featured Review
Absolutely fantastic, I love both of the drinks and will definitely enjoy them assembled in this dramatically looking version. Happy New Year!
Jenny
Mexican Bloody Mary
The Revolver Cocktail
Featured Review
David, good friends were celebrating an 80th birthday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and asked a bartender to make something different. He made a Revolver and my friends loved it! Upon returning home they sent me this recipe, and I have been making them for over a year. (I’m on my second bottle of Coffee Liqueur and you only use 1/2 oz. per drink.) I have several bourbons but prefer a spicy rye (as suggested). Bravo! I’ll enjoy this drink for years to come…
Scooter Levin
❓ Your Halloween Party Questions, Answered
Party Prep & Timing
Many treats can be made ahead! Cookies, brownies, and candy barks can be made 2 to 3 days in advance and stored in airtight containers. For recipes with frosting, it’s often best to bake ahead and frost the day of the party.
For a quick and easy treat, no-bake options are a lifesaver. Our Halloween Mummy Treats come together in minutes, and the Leftover Halloween Candy Bark is a perfect way to use up extra candy with almost no effort.
Get creative with color and names! A few drops of red food coloring can turn a simple glaze into “blood drips.” Use a toothpick to drag sour cream into a “spiderweb” on a dip. Sometimes, all you need is a spooky name—our Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake is scary enough just by its title!
Safe & Allergy-Friendly Treats
To ensure all your little ghouls and goblins can enjoy the fun, consider treats that avoid common allergens. Our Halloween Meringue Bones are naturally gluten-free and dairy-free. For a nut-free option, the Spooky Halloween Mummy Treats are a great choice (just ensure your ingredients are certified nut-free).
If you’re handing out homemade goodies, it’s best to wrap them individually in cellophane bags. Adding a small label with the ingredients is a thoughtful touch for parents of kids with allergies. For trick-or-treaters you don’t know personally, it’s often safest for everyone to stick with pre-packaged, sealed candies.
If you make any of these recipes, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We’d love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and X.
I love your blog and am wondering if you are still looking for home recipe testers.
Thanks, Marilyn. We are always accepting applications for new testers. Head on over to our recipe tester page to apply!