Celebrate Halloween this year by making some sweet treats. From cake pops to biscuits, there's something for all - and they'll keep kids entertained.
Here we take a look at 11 recipes for some of the best Halloween bakes.
Spooky eyeball pops (Photo: BBC Good Food)
These spooky looking eyeball pops are just your regular cake pops, but decorated to look like eyeballs - perfect for Halloween.
You’ll need:
You’ll also need some wooden skewers and something to stand the pops in - BBC Good Food recommends a deseeded pumpkin.
Method
First, start by breaking up the cake and the Oreos - you can do this by hand or using a food processor. Then add your melted milk chocolate and combine.
Using your hands, roll the mixture into small balls - you should get about 10 walnut sized pieces out of this recipe. Chill for around two hours until firm.
Next, push a skewer into each cake pop, and dip into the melted white chocolate to completely cover the ball. Stand the cake pops in the pumpkin and press a Smartie into the centre of the surface.
Chill again until the chocolate has set, and then decorate using your icing pens - you can add a pupil to the Smartie and wiggly red veins to make them really look like eyeballs.
Recipe via Tesco Real Food
Gingerbread monsters (Photo: Tesco)
These little gingerbread biscuits make the perfect foundation for Halloween inspired decoration - you can make them into little zombies, skeletons, mummies or whatever your imagination cooks up.
You’ll need:
Method
Start by preheating your oven, to gas mark four, 180C or 160C for fan ovens. Line two baking trays with nonstick baking paper.
Mix together your dry ingredients - the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon. Incorporate the butter by rubbing it in with your fingers, and then add the sugar.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and golden syrup. Add your wet ingredients to the dry until the mixture comes together in sticky clumps. Using your hands, bring the dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. Leave to chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out your dough into roughly the thickness of a pound coin on a lightly floured surface. Using a gingerbread man shape cutter, stamp out your biscuits.
Arrange on a lined tray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Once the biscuits have cooled, you can decorate however you like - to create a bandage effect, pipe white royal icing over the biscuits using a ribbon nozzle.
Leave to set before serving.
Ghost muffins (Photo: Sainsbury's)
Create these fun little ghostly figures using this delicious chocolate muffin mix from Sainsbury’s.
You’ll need:
Preheat your oven to 200C, 180c for fan or gas mark six. Line a six hole muffin tin with paper cakes and make the muffins according to the package directions and let them cool on a wire rack.
When cool, cut the rounded top off each muffin to create a flat surface. Turn the muffins upside down and carefully peel off the cases.
Roll out the icing to a thickness of around 5mm and cut out 6 x 13cm (approx) diameter circles, re-rolling the trimmings where necessary.
Brush the muffins with jam and then place an icing circle over the top of each one, pressing to flatten the top and making draping folds around the edges and sides to make a ghostly shape.
Draw on the eyes with the black writing icing and leave to set for at least ten minutes before serving.
Chocolate slime tart (Photo: Tesco)
This chocolate slime tart recipe is the perfect Halloween recipe, with its spooky green filling and spider web design.
You’ll need:
Method
To start, begin by blitzing up your Oreo cookies into a crumb, and then add your melted butter to make the base of your tart. Press this mixture into the base and sides of a loose-bottomed 23cm tart tin. Place in the freezer whilst you work on the slime filling.
Mix the custard pots with the food colouring and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the chilled base and return to the freezer for at least 40 minutes, or until firm.
In the meantime, place the dark and milk chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream and remaining butter (40g) in a pan over a low heat. Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. The heat from the cream and butter will melt the chocolate.
Stir it all together until melted. Let it cool for five minutes, and then pour over the frozen slime filling.
Next, melt the white chocolate and add it to a piping bag. You can use something like a resealable sandwich bag by snipping off a corner, if you don’t have a piping bag.
Pipe a white chocolate swirl on top of the tart. Using a cocktail stick, or something similar, drag it through the white chocolate to make it look like a spider web.
Use any remaining white chocolate to make your spider. Pipe a circle onto non-stick baking paper and then eight legs. Chill whilst the tart cools and then remove from the paper and add to the tart.
Banana ghosts (Photo: BBC Good Food)
Even if your kids don’t like regular bananas, frozen bananas have the texture of ice cream, and their shape makes them look positively ghoulish.
You’ll need:
Method
First, begin by melting your white chocolate. You can do this in short bursts in the microwave, or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
While your chocolate melts, prepare your bananas by peeling them and cutting them in half. Push a lollipop stick into the centre of each piece.
Spread the desiccated coconut out in a shallow bowl, and line a large baking tray with baking parchment - ensure you have enough room in the freezer for the tray.
Coat your bananas in chocolate, and let the excess drip away. Sprinkle with coconut and then set on your prepared tray. Add two chocolate eyes and a mouth with your dark chocolate drops.
Freeze the bananas for at least four hours.
Monster marshmallow rice treats (Photo: Sainsbury's)
Marshmallow rice crispy treats are a beloved snack amongst kids - why not give them a Halloween makeover this year?
You’ll need:
Start by heating the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook until it begins to give off a nutty aroma. Lower the heat and then add your marshmallows. Cook for a further two minutes, stirring constantly, until the marshmallows have melted.
Remove from the heat and add your rice pops and mix together.
Line a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper, and spread out your mixture into a large rectangle, roughly 40 x 28cm.
Leave to cool for 20 minutes, allowing them to firm up. Trim the uneven edges if you want and then cut into rectangles.
Now it’s time to decorate. To make Frankenstien monsters, melt the white chocolate and mix with green food colouring. Dip in your bars and leave on a tray lined with greaseproof paper to set. Once set, you can decorate with your black icing pen to make hair and a mouth. Mix the icing sugar with some water to make a thick mixture and use this to make the eyes.
To make vampires, melt the white chocolate in a bowl and dip in your bars, and leave to set. Using the black icing pen, draw the hair and a line for the mouth. Using strawberry laces, you can make the fangs. Mix the icing sugar with some water to make a thick mixture and use this to make the eyes.
Meringue ghosts (Photo: Tesco)
Crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside, these meringue ghosts are sure to be a hit in your household this Halloween.
You’ll need:
Method
Start by preheating your oven to gas mark one, 140C or 120C for fan ovens. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Place your egg whites into a clean, dry bowl and whisk them together until you get stiff peaks. Add one tablespoon of your sugar and whisk back into stiff peaks. Keep doing this until all your sugar is combined.
Finally, add your cornflour and vinegar, carefully folding it all together.
Place your merugines into a piping bag and pipe onto the baking paper. Holding the piping bag upright squeeze with even pressure pulling the bag upwards slowly as you do so. You want a meringue of around 9cm high with a pointy peak on the top. Repeat, leaving at least 3cm between each one. Gently press 2 chocolate chips into each meringue to create eyes.
Bake the mini meringues for one hour, until they are crispy to touch and easily peel off the paper. Turn off the oven and leave inside to cool completely, ideally overnight.
Melt your remaining chocolate and use the end of a paintbrush or teaspoon to paint a ghostly mouth on each meringue. Leave to cool.
Chocolate mini-roll bats (Photo: Sainsbury's)
These chocolate bat creatures are super simple to make, and gives kids an opportunity to show off their creativity when it comes to decorating.
You’ll need:
Method
Begin by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the dark chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt the chocolate.
Once the chocolate has cooled slightly, pour it into a piping bag. Snip a small hole at the end of the bag and pipe bat wings onto the lined tray. Join the wings together with a blob of chocolate and place a mini roll in between each pair of wings to make the bodies.
Transfer to the first and let set for 30 minutes.
Using the white and dark icing, draw the bats’ eyes and mouths.
Graveyard trifle (Photo: Tesco)
Using classic Halloween colours, like green and orange, this graveyard trifle is set to impress everyone at your Halloween party.
You’ll need:
Method
Begin by breaking up the green jelly pack into a bowl and adding 450ml of boiling water, stirring until it's dissolved. Add enough green food colouring to make the liquid a very bright green, then set aside to cool.
Crumble up the brownies into the base of a glass trifle dish. Press down with the back of a spoon to level the surface.
Top the brownie crumble with most of the jelly snakes, making sure to push a few close to the edge of the dish so they can be seen through the glass.
Put the custard in a bowl and stir in the orange food colouring until you reach a pale tangerine colour. Pour it over the snake and brown layer and spread it out nice and even. Chill for 30 minutes, or until set. Spoon some of the cooled liquid jelly over the custard to create a film-like layer. Chill until set.
Pour the remaining jelly over the top and return to the fridge for four hours, or until set. Blitz up the cookies to a fine crumb in a food processor and sprinkle over the top of the trifle to make a soil effect. Add the remaining jelly snakes.
Decorate using the rich tea biscuits, using the writing icing to write RIP to turn them into gravestones. Push them into the trifle. Use the cornflake clusters to create an earthy mound beside the gravestones.
Franken-feet (Photo: Tesco)
These green Franken-feet treats are perfect for those of us who don’t have lots of time to spare, as they mostly use pre-made ingredients.
You’ll need:
Method
Mix the frosting together with the food colouring to get a monster-green colour. Spread it thickly across the tops of the madeleines.
Use a fork or skewer to add detail to the feet. Arrange five raisins on each to resemble toes.
Spiderweb cupcakes (Photo: BBC Good Food)
These little cupcakes make a delicious treat, and their spiderweb designs make them perfect for Halloween.
You’ll need:
For the cream cheese icing:
For the chocolate icing:
Method
Begin by preheating your oven to 180C or gas mark four, and line a muffin tray with nine paper cases.
Mix together your dry ingredients, so the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a bowl. Add the sugar and butter and beat the mixture together until well combined.
Whisk in the egg and milk until the mixture is thick and smooth, then divide between the paper cases. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
For the cream cheese icing, beat together the cream cheese and butter until well combined and then add your icing sugar and vanilla.
Spread the icing onto the cupcakes, leaving a small border around the edge.
For the chocolate icing, mix the icing sugar and cocoa powder together and add two tablespoons of water to make a smooth, thick icing.
Transfer the chocolate mixture to a piping bag with a fine nozzle - alternatively, spoon the mixture into the corner of a sandwich bag and snip off the corner to make a small hole.
Carefully pip three concentric circles onto each cupcake. Run a toothpick from the centre of the edge of the cake, through each circle of the icing, at 2cm intervals to create a cobweb effect.
Set aside for 20 minutes to allow the icing to harden.
