I get it. Everyone thinks ghosts, witches, costumes, and candy when October hits. It’s the Halloween season, after all. But hear me out – instead of consuming buckets of candy after trick-or-treating – how about savoring some scary good Halloween desserts?!!! If you’ve got kids who love to trick-or-treat, don’t keep them from doing it. BUT, as adults, we can start incorporating fun desserts into the season for gatherings (just like other holidays).
Scary Good Halloween Desserts
They don’t all have to be in-your-face with their spooky, scariness. How about ones that are inspired by all hallows eve? Let’s explore some options you can make to bring to costume parties, or even to hand out to all the kids begging for candy at your door on the big night!
Desserts that SCREAM Halloween
Halloween Cupcakes
Now, you can probably make the cupcake itself for ANY situation and then decorate them with alternate themes. However, Preppy Kitchen gives you decent instructions on crafting a mummy, pumpkin, spider, Frankenstein, and skull. My favorite thing about these cupcakes is the sour cream. Whenever any recipe lists sour cream I’m all-in. BUT, if you don’t love sour cream, you can replace it with greek yogurt.
Halloween Cake Pops
I adore Preppy Kitchen, for sure. I go to this guy for a lot of recipes, including Halloween desserts. He’s great. However, he calls for boxed cake for his Halloween Cake Pops. Mama doesn’t do that, so I use homemade chocolate cake instead. You do what you gotta do on this one. No judgements.
Baked Halloween Donuts
Once again, you can make this baked donut recipe for any reason. This particular version from Lemon Blossoms includes ideas for Halloween icing. What I love about her donuts: they’re baked. But, if you aren’t loving this one, you can explore other doughnut recipes and utilize her icing ideas to dress them up!
Meringue Ghosts
One of the easiest Halloween desserts to make are Herbs & Flour’s Meringue Ghosts. To add a little surprise, I pipe mine over a Hershey Kiss. If I’m feeling extra fancy and no one has nut allergies, I pipe them over Almond Hershey Kisses. Feeling wild? Pipe them over some Ghirardelli Chocolate chips! You know the big ones. YUM.
Halloween INSPIRED Desserts
If you want to be more demure, more mindful, create desserts that whisper Halloween instead of smacking you in the face with it.
Halloween Brownies
Persnickety Plates has a great cream cheese swirl brownie recipe you can make for any gathering. Hell, you can make them on a Friday night and enjoy them in peace and quiet as you watch a new show on Hulu. Whatever blows your hair back. BUT, you can also bring them to a sophisticated costume party during the spooky season. Swap out the food coloring to holiday colors and bring these to a Christmas party, 4th of July BBQ, or for any old family celebration.
Spooky Halloween Marble Cake
Okay, so this one isn’t demure and subtle IF you decorate it with all the skulls and blood. HOWEVER, if you just stick to a more mundane black icing or even just some red icing, Life Love and Sugar’s marble cake recipe can work for not just Halloween, but also Christmas and even Valentine’s Day.
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Barbara Bakes calls for a store bought crust for her Chocolate Chip Cheesecake recipe. Cheesecake crusts are fairly simple to make with graham crackers (even the chocolate crackers if you want to keep it dark and moody). I leave it up to you when you make your own cheesecake.
Candle Cakes
Ghoul at Heart’s Noir Candle Cakes are definitely giving Halloween vibes. However, you can make this one for a bridal shower, or really any event that you’d have a candle on the table for. Swap the cake out for red velvet, or white cake. Adjust the icing colors, etc. These can be a fun one to experiment with. Even spraying them with a bit of edible glitter or sparkly pixie dust…. beautiful.
Homemade Treats to Hand Out
Clearly, you’re not making Homemade Candy Lollipops to trick-or-treaters. No one will want those, nor would parents allow their kids to consume them (not in this day-and-age). These little treat recipe from Home Cooking Memories is great to hand out as a thank you for attending our party. Usually the party goers are friends of yours, and trust your homemade lollipops aren’t harmful.
If You Have Lots of Extra Candy
Your kids come home, so proud of their candy haul. So sweet. Then you look over and see the candy bowl still full after all those neighborhood kids came knocking. You’re probably asking yourself what am I supposed to do with all this halloween candy? With our family, I always had a couple of birthdays to celebrate in early November. I found different desserts to make with the leftover candy, and served my creations at birthday celebrations (plus, just put the candy out in bowls at the party, because sugaring up other people’s kids and sending them home was fun.
If you need a quick and somewhat easy (you can use store bought cake if you want to) Halloween dessert to use up the extra candy, check out this Trifle Recipe from The Kitchen Magpie!
Whether you’re a die-hard Halloween lover, or just enjoy Halloween desserts, there’s a way to enjoy sweet treats throughout the orange and black season.
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