Spooky Snacks

You’re going to put hella apples in your grocery order after this.

01Mummy Hot Dogs

They’re a classic for a reason! Mummy dogs are just downright good, and they’re an easy way to delight your kids at meal times in the lead-up to Halloween. Chances are you’re using Pillsbury crescent roll dough for the mummy wrappings, so check out their mummy dog recipe to get that perfect golden crisp. Averie Cooks also has a delicious-looking mummy hand pie recipe that uses refrigerated pie crusts, if you want back-to-back courses of the undead.

02Dirt Cups

Like mummy dogs, dirt cups never disappoint. You can make a big batch in about 30 minutes using Princess Pinky Girl’s recipe, then top with whatever Halloween candies you like best (though gummy worms are the obvious choice).

03Candy Apples

Making candy apples is surprisingly simple — all you have to do is boil down some sugar, corn syrup, water, and food coloring into that bright candy coating and dunk in your apples. The magic happens when you play with the color — like these black “poison” apples — or add sprinkles, other candies, or sanding sugar on top.

04Pizza Skulls

You’ll need a skull cake mold like this one, but once you have it, pizza skulls are easy to pull off. Just press pre-made pizza dough into each one, then spread in sauce, cheese, and your favorite toppings before closing it up with more dough.

05Caramel Apples

I mean, of course people are Googling how to make this traditional treat this time of year.Averie Cooks’ recipe adds a little flair by encrusting each apple in Halloween candy, which is perhaps the only way you could improve upon the original treat. They’ll stay good in the fridge for two to three weeks.

06Monster Cookies

If you’ve never had one, monster cookies are basically like kitchen sink cookies. They’re loaded with a bunch of extra goodies — in this case, oats, M&Ms, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. Brown Eyed Baker’s recipe also includes a list of ideas for other add-ins, plus troubleshooting tips if your cookies are spreading too much, not enough, or crumbling.

07Monster Munch

Puppy chow, but make it Halloween! Monster munch can be made a ton of different ways, some simpler than others. In essence, it should include pretzels, popcorn, and a sweet candy. You can coat the pretzels in white and orange chocolate and top them with candy eyes, like this recipe from Yummly instructs, or leave them bare and toss them in with candy corn and M&Ms.

08Bat Wings

No, not the real thing. Bat wings are the flats of chicken wings, coated in a sauce so dark they appear to be almost black. Budget Bytes’ raspberry balsamic wing sauce fits the bill, and she has a great recipe for baking them while still getting crispy, crunchy results.

09Squid Ink Pasta

Yes, you *need* black squid ink pasta to serve at your dinner parties this month. Love and Olive Oil’s recipe, featured on Yummly, is detailed enough that even if you’ve never made pasta at home before, this might be worth a try.

10Candy Eyes

Candy eyes are the sprinkle you need most this time of year. You can just pop a pair onto anything and there you have it: a little cupcake monster, cookie monster, or brownie monster. They’re also an easy way to jazz up your monster munch.

11Meringue Ghosts

Meringue ghosts are so cute served on their own or as toppers on cakes, cupcakes, and other sweet treats in your party spread. This recipe from Princess Pinky Girl includes so much good advice if this is your first time making meringue at home.

12Witch Fingers Cookies

Witch fingers are a classic Halloween cookie, and Princess Pinky Girl’s recipe yields the bright green, creepy cookies your nightmares are made of. Flavor-wise, these are a buttery shortbread cookie — what other dough could hold wrinkles like that? — with a bit of chocolate and a raggedy almond sliver fingernail.

13Ghost Cookies

It’s possible people Googling “ghost cookies” are just looking up where to buy these classic Pillsbury place-and-bake cookies (which are my favorite, tbh). Perhaps they’re looking for cute ghost-shaped sugar cookie ideas and a recipe for royal icing. Or, these white chocolate dipped Nutter Butters with eyes and a mouth make pretty adorable spirits too. In any case, expect to see a lot of ghost cookies — in many forms — this Halloween.

14Skeleton Charcuterie Board

This is one of the easiest Halloween foods to make because there’s zero cooking involved. Grab an inexpensive plastic skeleton — not too big or small — and lay it flat on parchment paper. Then, artfully arrange your charcuterie faves around and inside of it. Some fall flavors, like candied nuts, apples, and dark berries, would make nice touches here.

15Ghost Cake

There are a million and one ways you could interpret this search, and just as many ways to decorate a cake with little spirits. But this recipe from Wilton is one of the cutest (and according to their website, it’s beginner-friendly). You’ll need quite a few different kinds of cake pans to pull off his shape, but this little ghostie will look so cute in the middle of your party spread.