Halloween Desserts

By Food & Wine
Updated May 08, 2017
© Christina Holmes
Halloween isn't all about the candy--check out these festive treats that are perfect for trick-or-treaters of any age. Whether you're a pumpkin aficionado or dream in dark chocolate, these recipes will satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are some of our favorite Halloween desserts, including red velvet spider web cupcakes and candy corn cookies.
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Mini Spiced Pumpkins

Credit: © David Malosh
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These spice cakes look like tiny pumpkins when they're covered with orange glaze and topped with a piece of dark licorice, twisted to look like a stem.

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Day of the Dead Cookies (Halloween Sugar Cookies)

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Although a skull is the traditional Day of the Dead motif, you can stamp these cookies into any festive shape, from pumpkins and witches to cats and ghosts.

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Chocolate Mice

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These icky-cute mice feature three kinds of chocolate: semisweet in the creamy, cakey center and white and bittersweet in the crisp chocolate shell.

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Ghostly Lemon Cake Pops

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Grace Parisi's cake pops are easy to make: Crumble store-bought pound cake; mix with lemon, sugar and butter; then shape into mounds. When they're covered with white chocolate, the cakes look like ghosts. Make their faces with an edible decorating pen or dots of black frosting.

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Red Velvet Spider Web Cupcakes

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These web-topped, chocolate-frosted red velvet wonders are filled with a spooky surprise—a sweet and creamy filling loaded with chewy tapioca

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Spiced Candy Corn Crispies

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These charming sweet-and-savory rice cereal treats are spicy enough to serve with drinks and sweet enough to satisfy a candy craving.

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Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust

Credit: © William Meppem
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The baked cheesecake can be refrigerated in the springform pan for up to 4 days.

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Halloween Whoopie Pies

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Tender chocolate cake with a luscious creamy filling is great in any form, but it's most fun of all in a whoopie pie. These little cakes are dressed in their Halloween finest with orange sashes made by rolling the creamy edges in bright orange nonpareils.

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Pumpkin Cookies

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These soft, lightly spiced cake-like cookies are studded with minced candied ginger and topped with a buttery sugar glaze.

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Candy-Corn-and-Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Credit: David Malosh
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Christina Tosi, sugar genius at NYC's Momofuku and author of The Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook, transforms her trick-or-treat haul into these irresistible Halloween treats.

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Dulce de Leche, Coconut and Chocolate Chip Magic Bars

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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This is Grace Parisi's sophisticated version of magic bars, that chocolate-coconut bake-sale favorite. Browning the butter gives the crust a nutty flavor; cooking it in a metal baking dish makes it extra crisp. In a touch inspired by pastry chefs' favorite new ingredient, Grace adds bacon to the filling.

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Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown-Butter Pears

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Pastry chef Jane Tseng worked with Nate Appleman (an F&W Best New Chef 2009), to create dishes like this awesome dessert. She uses the tangy, pungent, soft-ripened Italian cheese Robiolina and house-made gingersnaps; the version here calls for cream cheese and boxed cookies.

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Chocolate-Dipped Vanilla Caramels

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Grace Parisi experiments with ever-versatile caramel to make these chewy candies.

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Pumpkin-Walnut Praline Bars

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Carrie Dove's young son, Jeremy, says these are one of his favorite sweets. The family makes them at Halloween and gives them out to trick-or-treaters. The pumpkin pie filling is terrific smothered in the buttery, nutty praline topping.

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Mini Cheesecakes with Wine Gelées

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These single-serving cheesecakes are perfect for a party, their gelée toppings reminiscent of Halloween candies.

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Snickers Ice Cream Milk

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Christina Tosi, sugar genius at NYC's Momofuku and author of The Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook, transforms her Halloween haul into a candy milkshake.

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No-Bake Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

Credit: Fredrika Stjärne
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Grace Parisi's crumbly, ultra-peanutty cookies require only four ingredients: puffed-corn cereal, peanut butter cups, peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles. The powdery texture of the ground cereal prevents the cookies from feeling sticky.

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Spiced Chocolate Fondue

Credit: © Hans Gissinger
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Caroline Yeh sells extraordinary candies from small European and American producers. She's also an excellent home cook and baker with a passion for chocolate. Fragrant with cinnamon, clove, cardamom and ginger, her fondue holds up remarkably well at room temperature, which makes it good for parties—especially when it's served with gingerbread, apples or shortbread for dunking.

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Bittersweet-Chocolate Bark with Candied Orange Peels

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
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To make this ultradecadent bark, you boil orange peels in water, simmer them in sugar syrup and coat them in sugar. They're then tossed with pistachios and spread over chocolate for a divine bark.

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Butterscotch Crème Brûlée with Caramel Corn

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In his salute to dime-store sweets, pastry chef James Foran of Arterra in San Diego tops a silky butterscotch crème brûlée with his homemade Cracker Jack.

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Candied Lady Apples

Credit: John Kernick
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Food & Wine's Justin Chapple uses tart pomegranate juice to add a pretty rose color and additional flavor to his simple and adorable Candied Lady Apples.

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Spiced Cashew Brittle and Chocolate Crunch Bark

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Cayenne-spiked cashew brittle is delicious alongside crunchy chocolate bark.

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Red-Velvet Cake Balls with White Chocolate

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Dipped in white chocolate, these red-velvet cake balls are perfect for turning into eyeballs on Halloween. With a steady hand and food coloring, David Burtka paints detailed irises and pupils on each one; for the less artistically inclined, an M&M pressed into the white chocolate before it sets makes for a quick-and-easy creepy alternative.

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Pumpkin Parfaits

Credit: © Christina Holmes
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F&W's Justin Chapple layers superspeedy pumpkin mousse with whipped mascarpone cream and crushed chocolate wafer cookies for his gorgeous, delicious parfaits.

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