20 Halloween Treats That Are Cute and Not Complicated

Every October I promise myself I will be normal about Halloween treats. Then it is 10pm, I am scrolling with a bowl of cereal on my belly, and I have saved fourteen things that require a piping bag, a steady hand, and a personality I do not have. The next morning I am at the store buying premade frosting like a woman with no plan, which, to be clear, I am.

So this year I got picky. Everything below is something I have actually made in my kitchen with two kids hovering, and everything takes under thirty minutes of hands on time. I am also telling you about the one that flopped, because I refuse to be the blog that pretends the Pinterest photo happened.

Heads up, some of these are affiliate links, which just means I get a tiny commission at no cost to you.

1. Ghost Strawberries

Wash and dry a pound of strawberries completely. Water is the enemy here, so pat them like you mean it. Melt 10 ounces of white candy melts in the microwave at 50 percent power in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one. Dip each berry holding the stem, set it on parchment, and press on two mini chocolate chips for eyes before the coating sets. They firm up in about 15 minutes on the counter, faster in the fridge. Make them the morning of, not the night before, because strawberries weep and your ghosts get sad and streaky.

2. Pretzel Spider Bites

Lay out square pretzels on a lined sheet, top each with a Hershey Hug, and bake at 250 degrees for 4 minutes. Four. Not five. You want the chocolate soft, not puddled. Press an M and M on top, then poke eight pretzel stick legs into the sides. This is the treat my six year old can do almost entirely alone, which matters more to me than how it photographs.

3. Rice Krispie Pumpkins

Standard batch, 6 cups cereal, 3 tablespoons butter, 10 ounces marshmallows, plus about 15 drops of orange gel food coloring stirred into the melted marshmallow. Butter your hands generously, roll into balls while it is still warm but not molten, and press a pretzel stick in the top for a stem. A green Airhead cut into a leaf shape is the move if you want it cute. Store airtight at room temp up to 2 days.

4. Witch Hat Cookies

Fudge striped cookies, flipped upside down so the hole side is up, a dab of orange frosting, and a Hershey Kiss on top. That is the entire recipe. It takes eight minutes and every single time someone asks if I made the hats. I did not make the hats.

5. Jack o Lantern Clementines

For when you need something on the table that is not sugar. Peel clementines, stand them up, poke a small piece of celery in the top for a stem, and draw faces with a food safe marker. My kids eat these. My kids do not eat most fruit. I do not question it.

6. Oreo Spiders

Twist open an Oreo, add a small blob of frosting, press in four pretzel sticks on each side, close it back up, and add two candy eyeballs with a dot of frosting. Candy eyeballs are the single highest return item in my Halloween bin. They make anything look intentional.

7. Graveyard Pudding Cups

Chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos on top for dirt, and a Milano cookie standing up as a headstone. Write RIP on the Milano with black gel icing. Assemble no more than 3 hours ahead or the cookie goes soft and lies down, which is honestly its own kind of funny.

8. Monster Marshmallow Pops

Push a lollipop stick into a jumbo marshmallow, dip in melted green candy melts, and add eyeballs while wet. Let them set standing up in a block of styrofoam or a colander. Do not lay them flat unless you want a flat side, which nobody has ever wanted.

9. Halloween Puppy Chow

9 cups Chex, 1 cup white chocolate chips melted with 2 tablespoons butter, tossed, then shaken in a gallon bag with 1 and a half cups powdered sugar and a splash of orange and black sprinkles. Keeps a full week in an airtight container, which makes it my go to for classroom parties.

10. Frankenstein Krispie Bars

Same base as the pumpkins but green, pressed into a 9 by 13, cut into rectangles, dipped top-down in melted chocolate for hair, then eyes and a mouth in black gel. The chocolate hair line is what sells it. A wobbly hairline is fine. Frankenstein is not known for grooming.

11. Apple Monster Mouths

Quarter an apple, cut a wedge out of the skin side to make a mouth, spread peanut butter or sunbutter inside, and line the opening with mini marshmallows or slivered almonds for teeth. Brush the cut apple with lemon juice or these turn brown in twenty minutes and look genuinely upsetting.

12. Spiderweb Brownies

Bake a boxed brownie in a 9 by 13 at 350 for 28 minutes. Cool completely. Spread warmed white frosting thin, pipe concentric circles of melted chocolate, then drag a toothpick from the center outward in eight lines. Cool completely is not a suggestion. I have made warm web brownies and they are just brown soup with ambition.

13. Six More That Take Five Minutes

• Boo bananas, half a banana on a stick, dipped in white chocolate, chocolate chip eyes
• Candy corn parfaits, layered pineapple, mandarin orange, whipped cream
• Mummy pretzel rods, dipped in white chocolate then drizzled crosswise
• Popcorn hands, a clear glove filled with popcorn, candy corn fingernails
• Donut hole eyeballs, white frosting dipped with an M and M center
• Bat Oreos, two halved Oreos pressed into the sides of a whole one as wings

The One That Flopped

Cake pop mummies. In the photo, sleek little wrapped figures. In my kitchen, seven lumpy beige blobs with drizzle that pooled at the base like they had all melted from the ankles down. The problem is real, cake pops need the coating to be thin enough to run off and cold enough to set fast, and my kitchen in October is neither. If you want the mummy look, do the pretzel rods instead. Same effect, none of the crying.

What I Would Skip

Anything requiring tempered chocolate, royal icing that needs to dry overnight, or a stencil. Also skip fondant. I know it photographs beautifully. It tastes like a scented candle and your kids will peel it off and leave it on the couch.

My Make Ahead Timeline

• Three days out, buy candy melts, eyeballs, sticks, and sprinkles so you are not hunting at 8pm
• Two days out, make puppy chow and any krispie treats, store airtight
• One day out, dip and set the pretzel and marshmallow items
• Morning of, do strawberries, apples, clementines, and assemble pudding cups

The rest of my setup is embarrassingly minimal. A silicone baking mat so nothing sticks, a pile of Halloween cupcake liners because they make a plain treat look styled, and a bag of white candy melts, which behave better than real white chocolate when you are working fast and slightly frantic.

Okay, Go Make Something Cute

If you only pick one, pick the witch hats. Eight minutes, zero skill, maximum credit. And if yours come out lopsided, please tell me in the comments, because my mummy blobs would love the company.

So glad you are here. Pam