50 Halloween desserts so sweet you'll scream

Why choose tricks or treats when you can weave your tangled web and have both? There’s no need to rely solely on store-bought candy this year — these festive Halloween dessert recipes are guaranteed to get the party started. From edible eyeballs and homemade cotton candy to artful web-covered cookies and everything pumpkin-spiced, there’s something for every ghoul and gal to enjoy.

A few of these recipes incorporate some of the Halloween candies that we all know and love, including the always-divisive candy corn. Many are desserts that both kids and adults can get behind, whether it be candy corn-adorned doughnuts, a candy-filled layer cake or a buttery skillet cookie that’s packed with whatever candy combination you can dream up.

The majority of these dessert recipes are so simple that they can be made at the last minute with just a handful of pantry staples, such as butter, sugar, flour and chocolate. Store-bought pie dough and puff pastry are used to make some of our favorite holiday recipes, including mummified hand pies, seasonal pot pies, pumpkin slab pies (we love a simplified version of a classic) and bite-size fruit tarts topped with the sweetest creepy crawlers.

And what would an autumn holiday be without apples and pumpkins? Apple crisp and homemade sweet pierogi will satisfy your fruit cravings, while the familiar flavor of pumpkin finds its way into milkshakes, cookies, cheesecake and more. Feel free to play your tricks, but remember to treat your friends and family to one or more of these delicious treats, too.

Martha Stewart's Halloween Spiderweb Cookies by Martha Stewart

These creepy crawlers are eerily delicious. Buttery sugar cookies are flooded with royal icing and decorated with a simple spiderweb pattern.

Halloween Candy Skillet Cookie by Kelly Vaughan

On the off chance that you have some leftover Halloween candy on hand, you can do better than next-day snacking. Add bite-size pieces of your favorite candies to a batch of sugar cookie dough and bake it in a skillet to create a shareable dessert that the whole family can enjoy.

Halloween Cake Pop Eyeballs by Grace Parisi

These party-ready cake pops might not be anatomically accurate, but guests will be impressed nonetheless. To decorate these chocolate eyeballs, dip them into white candy melts, then pipe on some red veins and finish with a chocolate candy pupil.

Pumpkin Milkshakes by Katie Lee Biegel

Move over, pumpkin spice latte — there’s a new drink in town. This boozy shake is spiked with vanilla vodka and pumpkin liqueur and gets even more pure pumpkin flavor from purée and pumpkin pie spice. Each glass is adorned with a gingersnap rim.

Martha Stewart's Apple-Bourbon Potpies by Martha Stewart

Pot pies aren’t just a savory affair — they are well-equipped to be sweetened with in-season fruit and served for dessert. Each individual apple pie mixture is topped with a square of flaky all-butter puff pastry. Take it one step further and serve them warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies by Samah Dada

What would Halloween be without all things pumpkin-flavored? A batch of traditional chocolate chip cookies get some seasonal flair from a duo of pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie spice. This vegan recipe replaces the egg with flaxseed and pumpkin purée; almond butter and coconut oil stand in for the usual butter.

Halloween Boo-Berry Mummy Pies by Casey Barber

This breakfast is fit for any ghoul or gal who wants to start their day with a little something sweet. Blueberry jam is wrapped in buttery pie dough and baked until golden and flaky. Decorate each mummy pie with edible candy eyes to make them extra spooky.

Double Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies by Will Coleman

There’s something about marshmallows that reminds us of Halloween — perhaps it’s their ghostly color or their sweet flavor. Bake a marshmallow on top of these fudgy chocolate-packed cookies for a special treat to enjoy on All Hallow’s Eve.

Spooky Spider Raspberry Tarts by Kelly Senyei

All you need is candy melts, edible eyeballs, and black sprinkles to make the adorable spiders that adorn these puff pastry tarts. They taste as good as they look — the buttery pastry is baked with raspberry jam and topped with fresh raspberries.

Halloween Explosion Cake by Casey Barber

There’s a sweet surprise hiding inside this colorful cake. Among the vibrant green and purple cake layers, you’ll find a pile of Halloween candy waiting to spill out. Use some of your cutest candies to decorate the top of the cake.

Halloween Doogerscoodles by Katie Lee Biegel

The name of these cookies is as funny as the tricks that will be played on Halloween night. Even better, they are super easy to make — just sandwich some peanut butter between Ritz crackers and decorate the Jack-o-Lanterns with orange-tinted frosting.

Spooky Chocolate-Covered Strawberries by Katie Lee Biegel

Chocolate-covered strawberries aren’t just for Valentine’s Day. Use sprinkles with every color of the Halloween rainbow to decorate these sweet and spooky treats.

Cannoli Graveyard by Katie Stilo

The only thing haunting this graveyard will be your party guests coming back for seconds. Make a Halloween dessert spread by topping store-bought cannoli cream with chocolate wafer cookie dirt and cannoli chips gravestones. Arrange some candy gummy worms around the graves to make it even more authentic.

Easy-As-Pie Pumpkin Bars by Christina Tosi

A buttery crumble mixture pulls double duty in these autumnal pumpkin pie bars — some of it forms the base layer for the pumpkin filling and the rest is scattered over the top before baking. Make a quick homemade pumpkin butter to use as the center filling or swap in your favorite store-bought pumpkin or apple butter.

Spider Web Cupcakes by TODAY

Since the spider web designs are the star of these cupcakes, we keep the rest of the recipe simple. The buttermilk cupcakes are moist and delicate, thanks to the use of cake flour, and a buttercream frosting is the perfect consistency for swirling on top.

Pumpkin Slab Pie by Joey Skladany

If you’re hosting a lot of Halloween party-goers, a slab pie is the perfect dessert to satisfy a crowd. Use store-bought pie dough so you can focus on the spiced pumpkin filling — heavy cream and evaporated milk keep the filling silky smooth and a combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves add a warming flavor.

Frankenstein Cereal Treats by Carrie Parente

This Halloween dessert is a great way to get the kids involved. They’ll love watching the sticky rice cereal mixture turn green — almost as much as they’ll enjoy decorating the bars with silly monster faces.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake by Carrie Parente

A no-bake, make-ahead dessert is just the thing to end Halloween on a sweet note. Both the graham cracker crust and the lightly spiced pumpkin filling are set in the freezer, so the cheesecake is ready to slice and serve when you are.

Pumpkin Bars by Joey Skladany

If you love pumpkin cake or pumpkin bread, this is the Halloween dessert for you Teat your loved ones to these cakey bars swirled with rich cream cheese frosting. The best part is that they come together in less than 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Marshmallow Sheet Cake by Riley Wofford

If you’re feeling nostalgic for the campfire s’mores of summer, we have some good news for you — you can get your s’mores and pumpkin fixes at the it’s time. This moist pumpkin sheet cake is topped with pillowy swirls of meringue before being torched like a marshmallow.

Little Monster Macarons by Anna Helm Baxter

Your little monsters will go “Gaga” over these Halloween-themed cookies. Grab some pre-made macarons and a few edible ink markers and let the kids draw ghosts, witches and pumpkin faces onto the cookies.

Easy Chocolate Fondue by Casey Barber

Fondue is a sharing experience worthy of considering this Halloween. If you’re throwing a costume party, set out some assorted fruit, marshmallows, cookies and pretzel rods for folks to dip into the decadent chocolate fondue pot.

Mini Mummy Pies by Anna Helm Baxter

Wish these mummies luck escaping their tangle of flaky pie dough. These hand-held pies are a great last-minute addition to any Halloween get-together.

Pumpkin Doughnut Holes by Joy Bauer

Who knew you could make homemade doughnuts with just a handful of pantry staples? And one of them is a boxed cake mix! We bake these in a doughnut hole pan, but if you don’t have one, a mini muffin tin will work just as well.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Lava Cakes by Ryan Scott

If you were expecting to see chocolate ganache spill out of these molten lava cakes, we have something even better. The warm salted caramel sauce in the center is reminiscent of “pumpkin guts.”

Al Roker's Apple Crisp by Al Roker

Apples are, hands-down, the best fall fruit, and the easiest way to use up a bounty is in a homemade apple crisp. Bake the crisps in individual ramekins so guests don’t have to share.

Chocolate-Covered 'Booberries' by Derrell Smith

If you use melted white chocolate to dip strawberries, you’re only a few minutes away from a devilishly delightful dessert. Use some melted dark chocolate to pipe on some cartoonish ghost faces.

Homemade Cotton Candy by TODAY

Making cotton candy at home is an experience you and your family will remember for a long time. Break out the candy thermometer and set up a space where things can get messy. The best part is that you can customize the color of the spun sugar before you wrap it around lollipop sticks.

'Light Up' Chocolate Brownie Pumpkins by Elise Strachan

These pumpkin-shaped chocolate brownies are illuminated just like the light-up Jack-o-Lanterns many of us grew up with. Each one has an electric tea light candle hidden under an iced pumpkin stem.

Frankenstein Cupcakes by Anna Helm Baxter

Bring Dr. Frankenstein’s monster (and his bride) to the Halloween party this year. Stack two mini doughnuts on top of a cupcake, frost with green icing and use candies to create the face and neck bolts. Give the bride her iconic hairstyle with a sprinkle-coated ice cream cone.

Zombie Brain Cupcakes by Elise Strachan

These cupcakes are creepy and cute at the same time. Pipe tinted frosting over vanilla cupcakes to create a brain pattern, then use cherry syrup to create a bloody pattern in between the ridges.

Coconut-Banana Ghost Pops by Grace Parisi

These might be the easiest Halloween-inspired treat around. Baby bananas are dipped in white chocolate candy melts, coated in coconut flakes and decorated with ghostly faces. If you can’t find baby bananas, just cut regular ones in half.

Halloween Hand Pies by Gesine Bullock-Prado

We’re speaking quite literally when we talk about these hand pies. Bloody red jam fills the palm of each of these individual pies, and all five fingers are adorned with an almond slice to mimic the nail.

Frankenstein Cheesecakes by Elise Strachan

By using parchment triangles as a stencil, you can create a perfect Frankenstein hair cut out of a chocolate wafer cookie crust. Once the no-bake cream cheese filling sets in the jars, flip them over and add the monster’s features.

Vegan Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Cookies by Ryan Scott

Your guests will never know these cookies are gluten-free, let alone vegan. The plant-based treats are soft and crumbly, not to mention deeply fudgy, thanks to the addition of two kinds of chocolate — cocoa powder and dark chocolate chunks.

Sandra Lee's Halloween Magic Candy Brownies by Sandra Lee

Halloween candy isn’t just for the kids. The grown-ups will love these indulgent candy-topped brownie bars. The brownie base is flavored with coffee liqueur, which enhances the rich chocolate notes, and instant espresso powder is mixed into the fluffy frosting.

Pumpkin Spice 'Ghoulmen' by Gesine Bullock-Prado

Break out the gingerbread cookie cutter a few months early to make these undead spice cookies. You can even let the kids take a sneaky bite out of a leg or two — just patch up the damage with bloody red icing.

Sweet Dracula Doughnuts by Anna Helm Baxter

Sink your teeth into these decadent doughnuts. Chocolate-covered doughnuts are halved, sandwiched with red frosting and decorated with a row of mini marshmallows and candy corn teeth.

Best Brownies by Kelly Vaughan

It’s always a good idea to have some crowd-pleasing desserts ready for any party, no matter the theme. These brownies are both cakey and fudgy, with gooey chocolate chips scattered throughout and an unmistakable crackly crust with each bite.

Apple Pie-Rogies by Casey Barber

No party in October is complete without showcasing the best fruit of the season — apples. Here, a spiced apple filling is wrapped around homemade pierogi dumpling dough and baked until golden.

Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream by Jocelyn Delk Adams

A dessert as sinfully delicious as this one deserves a place at your Halloween party this year. As if the chocolate cupcakes weren’t decadent enough, we like to pipe a crown of caramel-flavored buttercream frosting on top of each, followed by a drizzle of melted chocolate.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Layer Cake with Halloween Candy by Gaby Dalkin

Talk about an inventive way to use up an excess of Halloween candy. Arrange slices of your favorite chocolate candy bars around the edges of this pumpkin cake to create a geometric pattern.

Sandra Lee's Hot Chocolate Candy Bar Cupcakes by Sandra Lee

With the spirit of hot chocolate in mind, both the batter and frosting for these cupcakes are made with chocolate milk. Black and orange flames are piped on top to really put the “hot” in hot chocolate.

Sticky Spider Web Cupcakes by Anna Helm Baxter

These are the kinds of webs we want to get caught in. In just a few minutes, you can stretch store-bought marshmallow creme over cupcakes to create a webbed pattern. Edible candy spiders are just the icing on the (cup)cake.

Chocolate Mummy Cookies by Anna Helm Baxter

A simple powdered sugar glaze and edible candy eyes are all you need to bring these mummy cookies back to life. Even without their decorative flair, these chocolate cookies are crumbly and delicious.

'Crispy Scream' Doughnuts by Gesine Bullock-Prado

These yeasted doughnuts are so good, you’ll swear they came from your favorite doughnut shop. They have a special Halloween twist — eyes and mouths are stamped out of each doughnut to give them horror movie vibes.

Ghoulish Gang Doughnuts by Anna Helm Baxter

The gang’s all here! Create witches, crows, spiders, owls and ghosts out of store-bought doughnuts and some inventive decorations, such as licorice, chow mein noodles, pretzels and sunflower seeds.

Rice Cereal Treat Brains by Elizabeth Heiskell

Whoever said crispy cereal treats have to be square or rectangle-shaped was mistaken. For Halloween, shape the sticky cereal mixture into edible brains and decorate with red gel icing veins. They’re almost too cute to eat — almost.

Valerie Bertinelli's Pumpkin Pudding by Valerie Bertinelli

This creamy pumpkin pudding is perfectly spiced with cinnamon, allspice, cloves and ginger. There’s still room for more warming spices, though — the pudding is spooned between layers of crisp and crumbly gingersnap cookies.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com