Trick-or-Treat: Halloween Dessert Ideas

by Shannon Salzano

Trick-or-Treat: Halloween Dessert Ideas

While many major holidays give top billing to savory main dishes, Halloween is the one night a year where candy and sweets reign supreme. With the holiday’s main attraction being centered around the goal of getting the most candy possible, it’s no surprise that Halloween is a dessert lover’s dream.Any Halloween party or event is not complete without Halloween decorations, a spooky soundtrack, and plenty of treats to go around. The other 364 days of the year may be about a balanced diet, but this day hosts should go all out with goodies, so here are a few tips on how to make desserts the star of your halloween party and what kind of treats you should be serving up.

Why Desserts Are the Life of a Halloween Party

If you’ve ever been to a gathering before, you know the crowd always ends up in the kitchen. The truth is no good party is complete without food, and Halloween means that food should be sweet. Good desserts can add excitement to your Halloween party, giving your party guests something to do while they show off their creative halloween costume, and also adds a layer of excitement and contributes to the decoration and vibe of the festivities. Just like you wouldn’t have a holiday party with frosted cookies, Halloween desserts, candy apples, snack sized chocolates and more are a must have. And no one is ever upset to see a bowl of candy corn.

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Milk Bar® Pie

Our signature, gooey Milk Bar Pie has a sticky, buttery, salty-sweet filling in a hearty oat-cookie crust. *This* is the pie that put Milk Bar on the map. Get it delivered fresh, anywhere in the USA. We dare you not to have a second slice.

10” pie serves 8-10.

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Get +53 points on this purchase to use towards *free* treats when you join The First Bite Club! Information Icon

Monthly Care Package

Whether you’re a super gifter, creature of habit or just love the thrill of getting something sweet delivered every month, we’ve got your back. This monthly delivery option allows you to sit back and relax, knowing that we’ll send (your favorite) Milk Bar treats, every month. Your order will arrive the same time each month, so you can plan your dessert breaks accordingly. If you want to cancel or adjust the details of your subscription, just log into your Milk Bar account and navigate to "manage subscriptions" to make changes, or check out our FAQs here for more info.

Please note, monthly care package orders are not eligible for delivery date selection and typically ship within 1-3 days of purchase. If you have a one-time purchase in the cart with the monthly care package, you cannot select a delivery date. In order to select a delivery date, place one-time purchases separately from the monthly care package.

Possible uses for monthly delivery:

  • Always having something sweet on hand when company calls
  • Stocking your office break room with goodies so everyone likes you
  • Monthly “I see you” moments on the doorstep of someone you like/love
  • Making sure your midnight snack supplies are maintained
  • An autopilot option for nonstop birthday gifting needs
  • Your college kid needs to know cookies don’t grow on trees but do show up every 4 weeks give or take
  • Your bookclub loves a good snack
  • The thrill of seeing the white and pink box on your doorstep

Top Halloween Dessert Ideas

Half the fun of a Halloween party is seeing your favorite snacks transformed into something on theme for the spooky day. What seems like an everyday rice krispie treat gets a monster spin with some green food coloring and candy googly eyes. A little red velvet pudding mix means you’ve got vampire blood pudding cups for guests to do their best Dracula on. Regular cookie dough shaped like a log and topped with a kernel of candy corn becomes a zombie finger cookie. The possibilities for cheesy and fun snacks are only limited by your imagination.
Beyond the cutesy, you can also plan your epic Halloween party menu around flavors of the season. Pumpkin spice rules October for a reason, so why not give into a little basic behavior and load your buffet up with fall spins on your favorite recipes. Pumpkin Pie cupcakes, apple cider donuts, caramel apples, and cinnamon dusted puppy chow all make great fall offerings. And of course there is always Pumpkin Milk Bar Pie, Caramel Apple Cake and Pumpkin Coffee Cake Truffles if you are showing off.

A human holding a whole 6" pumpkin coffee-cake cake

Pumpkin Coffee-Cake Cake

Enjoy 30% off the 6" Pumpkin Coffee-Cake Cake. No promo code needed, just add to your cart!  


The cake that sold out in 10 days is back by popular demand! We bake a vanilla cake and layer it with cinnamon goo (yes, it’s a thing), crunchy cinnamon streusel, pumpkin cheesecake filling, and pumpkin frosting—then top this beauty with the *best* part of coffee cake, heaps of coffee cake topping. Full on fall, and perfect for every seasonal celebration.

Select Size:
What Size Should I Get?

6 inch: Serves groups of 8-12 10 inch: Serves groups of 20-30 We recommend slicing and freezing whatever you won’t finish within that time — Pumpkin Coffee-Cake Cake stays fresh in the freezer for up to 2 weeks!

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Get +65 points on this purchase to use towards *free* treats when you join The First Bite Club! Information Icon

Vegan and Gluten-Free Halloween Dessert Options

Of course there is nothing spookier than being a bad host, so it's always a good idea to consider the dietary restrictions of all the ghouls and goblins coming to your Halloween bash. A few vegan and or gluten-free options can go a long way in making everyone feel festive, and they are a breeze to do on theme. A ghost shaped white meringue is naturally gluten free, and pretty cute. Many candies and cookies are available that are vegan for your trick-or-treat stash, or you can swap in alternative milks in your Halloween baking to fit the bill. A dozen Gluten-Free B’Day Truffles is always sure to please.

A pile of gluten-free birthday cake truffles sitting on top of a milk bar branded box.

Gluten-Free B'Day Truffle Dozen Box

We rolled all the childhood flavor of our signature cake into a single bite — no utensils needed. No gluten needed, either. Made from Gluten-Free Birthday Cake, these rainbow-flecked, vanilla-happy, gluten-free goodies are coated in a barely-there white chocolate shell and rolled in B'Day sand. 

Includes one gift box of 12 B'Day Truffles.

Minus Icon Plus Icon

Buying more than 1 gift? Use our multi-address order page

Get +40 points on this purchase to use towards *free* treats when you join The First Bite Club! Information Icon

Monthly Care Package

Whether you’re a super gifter, creature of habit or just love the thrill of getting something sweet delivered every month, we’ve got your back. This monthly delivery option allows you to sit back and relax, knowing that we’ll send (your favorite) Milk Bar treats, every month. Your order will arrive the same time each month, so you can plan your dessert breaks accordingly. If you want to cancel or adjust the details of your subscription, just log into your Milk Bar account and navigate to "manage subscriptions" to make changes, or check out our FAQs here for more info.

Please note, monthly care package orders are not eligible for delivery date selection and typically ship within 1-3 days of purchase. If you have a one-time purchase in the cart with the monthly care package, you cannot select a delivery date. In order to select a delivery date, place one-time purchases separately from the monthly care package.

Possible uses for monthly delivery:

  • Always having something sweet on hand when company calls
  • Stocking your office break room with goodies so everyone likes you
  • Monthly “I see you” moments on the doorstep of someone you like/love
  • Making sure your midnight snack supplies are maintained
  • An autopilot option for nonstop birthday gifting needs
  • Your college kid needs to know cookies don’t grow on trees but do show up every 4 weeks give or take
  • Your bookclub loves a good snack
  • The thrill of seeing the white and pink box on your doorstep

Conclusion

Under the full moon, with witches and ghosts galore, you now know that when it comes down to the basics of how to throw a Halloween party, you’ll need a variety of good halloween desserts. Halloween treats make the party theme feel more festive, and for one day of the year folks are showing up expecting something sweet. From candy apples to easy halloween recipes, and whether you’re hosting or are wondering what to bring to a Halloween party as the guest, make sure you give everyone a good treat this year!

About the author

Shannon Salzano is a New York Times best selling author and hospitality industry veteran. A graduate of Northern Illinois University's Literature and Communications program, Shannon spent half a decade in editorial publishing before making the pivot to hospitality. She served as the Creative Director to Chicago's lauded Girl & the Goat restaurant empire for five years where she oversaw the design and launch of several brick and mortar concepts, a line of home chef sauces and spices, and multiple cookbooks. In her Director of Special Projects role at Christina Tosi's Milk Bar, Shannon has executed partnerships with household names like Google, Verizon, Converse, Cheetos and Pillsbury, and oversees brand voice.