Costumes and trick and treating make Halloween fun, but there’s another spooktacular element that can level up your Halloween celebrations. Elevate your menu with some spooktacular desserts to make your fright-night parties a smashing hit.
These 29 easy-to-make Halloween desserts — covering bases from bat Oreos and Frankenstein rice Krispie treats to slash cake and monster brownie pizza — are destined to create a hair-tingling experience, one you’ll actively seek every Halloween.
#1. Bat Oreos
Sweet and crunchy, this recipe uses Oreos, melted chocolate, and candy eyes to create a magnificent beast that’s destined to be an instant hit with the kids. You’ll be using Oreo cookies instead of whipping up a fresh batch, so this easy recipe gives you all the ammunition you need to introduce your young ones to baking.
#2. Black Cat, Bat, Spider, and Mice Doughnuts
Spruce up frosted, store-bought doughnuts by dipping them in a melted chocolate mixture with added food coloring for a beautiful black glaze. Decorate them with icing, candy, and cookies to give them the appearance of bats, cats, spiders, and mice to create a treat that’ll have all the kids coming back for more.
#3. Blood Cupcakes With Broken Beer Bottle Glass Shards
Edible blood (made from corn syrup and food coloring), shards of broken glass made with sugar, a fresh batch of red velvet cupcakes, and cream cheese frosting — that’s all it takes to create this bloody Halloween delight. Decorate before serving for an authentic horror experience.
#4. Boozy Screamsicle Shakes
This boozy invention is made by dipping the rims of serving glasses in chocolate sauce and Oreo crumbs, drizzling chocolate sauce on the inside of the glasses, and filling them straight up with a blended sherbet, milk, and vodka mix. To keep up with the Halloween vibe, these shakes can also be garnished with whipped cream and sprinkles.
#5. Candy Corn Popcorn Balls
A scrumptious combination of candy corn and popcorn paired with tasty mini marshmallows and salted and roasted peanuts make these candy corn popcorn balls a feast for the senses. These sticky treats are bound to be a complete hit with children and adults alike!
#6. Candy Corn White Chocolate Cookies
Soft, tender, and deliciously buttery, these cookies are stuffed with white chocolate chip and candy corn to give you a one-of-a-kind sugar rush that’ll have you craving more. Pro tip: Candy con can burn, so shield them inside the cookies. You’ll be surprised how strategic placement can prevent a potential cookie disaster.
#7. Chocolate-Dipped Ghost Pretzels
These perfectly salty and sweet ghost pretzels are an easy and cute recipe for Halloween. Dip the ends of pretzels in melted white chocolate, place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, set until firm, and then draw ghost faces with black decorating gel (or edible marker) to create an adorable snack!
#8. Frankenstein Rice Krispie Treats
Made with green food dye, marshmallows, and butter, these Frankenstein-themed Krispie treats are simple, tasty, and a whole lot of fun to make. Decorate them with candy eyes, black frosting to create “hair,” and then draw on the mouth before wrapping up the adorable creation with silver marshmallows on both sides to create your Frankenstein’s monster.
#9. Gluten-Free Halloween Monster Cookies
This dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free cookie recipe offers a safe and delicious treat with chocolate chips and sprinkles added to the mix. Press candy eyes on each cookie soon as they’re out of the oven to give the cookies a monster vibe that’ll have your kids reaching for seconds.
#10. Graveyard Pudding Cookie Cups
A fluffy mousse piped between layers of crushed Oreo cookies to create the appearance of “soil and mud,” gummy worms buried in the “graveyard,” and tombstone cookies and candy pumpkins carefully stuck on top — this legendary Halloween creation will tickle all your spooky fancies.
#11. Halloween Candy Charcuterie Board
Loaded with Halloween favorites, this charcuterie board pulls all stops to create a Halloween sleepover success. To create a true holiday experience, consider looking for a Halloween-themed charcuterie board and then set the scene with your choice of candies, sweets, chocolates, and toppers — the varying colors, flavors, and textures create a fantastic platter to present to your guests.
#12. Halloween Slash Cake
Vibrant red blood topping and filling made with fondant icing, strawberry jam, and red food coloring are all it takes to create this spine-chilling cake. Once assembled, create “slashes” into the icing and make it even more gruesome by drizzling buttercream diluted with water to make “blood.”
#13. Halloween Whoopie Pies
This fun treat is made by adding a light, fluffy, and smooth filling in between two perfectly baked cookies. Press the cookies lightly to let a little bit of the filling ooze out, and sprinkle the now exposed filling with nonpareils to create an absolute masterpiece.
#14. Hooting Halloween Owls
Have your guests hooting for an encore with these muffins/cupcakes. They’re layered with icing, decorated with large round licorice sweets/candy for eyes, curved edged up pieces of cake to make eyebrows or owl’s ears, and a piece of candy in between the eyes for the beak. These little treats give off major HP vibes too!
#15. Jack Skellington Cheesecakes
Bring your Nightmare Before Christmas to life but make it even more swoon-worthy with this Jack Skellington Cheesecake recipe. Once the cakes are done, decorate them with melted chocolate icing for eyes, nostrils, and the legendary smirk with zigzags over the mouth to pay homage to this legendary movie.
#16. Marshmallow Web Ghost Cake
Spooky and cute, this two-tier cake uses neon and black food colors to create a vivid creation you will never forget. Once the cake is assembled, create spider webs with melted marshmallows and adorn the top layer with ghosts made with white buttercream and black sugar pearled eyes to create a Halloween statement.
#17. Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack-o’-lantern Cookies
These cookie sandwiches epitomize Halloween and fall — talk about a powerful two-in-one. Shaped like Jack-o’-Lanterns, these spookily adorable cookies are made with rich milk chocolate squeezed in between cookies flavored with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, and dusted with cinnamon sugar for the ultimate spooky vibe.
#18. Monster Brownie Pizza
A sweet spin on your savory favorite, we’re about to spell the novel recipe for this delightful pizza. Simply swap out the crust for brownies and top it off with purple frosting and candy eyeballs. And there you have it — a wonderfully frightening dessert in your baking repertoire!
#19. Monster Mask Cookies
A batch of sugar cookie dough and a mask template to carve out the shape of the monsters is all it takes to prove that monsters can be cute, too. The best thing? This recipe is super kid-friendly. Have your kid join in on the fun and whip up a large batch before the spooky night!
#20. Monster Matcha Waffles
Set the tone for your Halloween celebrations with this plate of delightfully monstrous matcha waffles. Create eyes and mouths on the waffles to give them a monster vibe with artfully placed candy and marshmallows and smother them with syrup before serving!
#21. Mummy Cookies
This Halloween dessert made with sweet and buttery sugar cookies is to die for! To dress the cookies as mummies, simply place two eyeballs on the top center of the cookies and draw straight lines with icing horizontally and at an angle without covering the candy eyes. Your fresh batch of spooktacular treats is ready!
#22. Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Striking the right balance of cute and creepy, these soft, rich (and insanely adorable!) spider cookies are topped with a frozen peanut butter cup that’s adorned with hair-raising candy eyes and chocolate legs to give it the appearance of a spider. Rest assured, these bad boys are about to make Halloween night an unforgettable event.
#23. Platter of Darkness
This platter of darkness combines sweet and spooky to offer a spectacular spread that’ll have you revisiting this dish every time a Halloween-themed celebration comes your way. Cookie-coated caramel apples form the centerpiece of this eerie platter. Serve with other snacks of your choice like black licorice, M&M’s, or chocolate-covered nuts and dry fruits!
#24. Poison Apples
Bring the Snow White vibe (and instant chills!) to your Halloween dessert menu with this iconic poison apple recipe. Just dip fresh, juicy apples in blue and black color candy and add real branches for an element of mystery, intrigue, and charm to create a Halloween staple that’ll become the talk of the party.
#25. Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting
Keeping it simple this Halloween? This pumpkin cupcake recipe is everything you’re looking for. Decorate the super moist pumpkin cupcakes with a tangy cream cheese frosting and install mellow creme pumpkins (or other pumpkin decorating toppers) on top of each flavored cupcake to enjoy these simple yet delicious little treats.
#26. Sandwich Cookie Eyeballs
Twist apart chocolate sandwich cookies to create a picture-perfect base for these monster cookie eyeballs. Add a glob of green gel icing in the middle of the base, top it with a brown M&M, and pipe veins with red gel icing to create this absolutely stunning dessert.
#27. Spider Cake
This adorable and freaky spider cake pulls no punches! A moist dome-shaped chocolate cake with black buttercream frosting forming the spider’s body, followed by white buttercream eyes and mouth, and eight bubble tea straw legs — can you ask for a cuter dessert? Just make sure you have a grass piping tip to create the spider’s fuzzy body.
#28. Spooky Forest Pudding Cups
These elegant yet very spooky dessert bowls will wow everyone at the table! A thick sinfully delicious chocolate pudding forms the base for these “dirt” cups. Top it off with chocolate trees and some pumpkin toppers to add some oomph to this simple recipe.
#29. White Chocolate Strawberry Ghosts
Dip fresh strawberries in melted white chocolate, place them on parchment paper in a way that creates a “tail” for a ghost-like appearance. Pipe melted milk chocolate for the eyes and an oval mouth to create a super adorable dessert that’ll level up your Halloween celebrations.
