Trick or Treat: Eight Spooky No-Bake Desserts to Try at Home

Happy Halloween Season! It’s that time of the year again when sweets and treats abound! And what better way to celebrate than by making a few desserts of your own?

If you’re not one to cook or if baking seems a little more complicated than it looks, don’t worry! There’s still a way to make delights that will surely impress anyone at a Halloween party.

Whether you’re planning a fun Halloween bash with friends and family or looking for quick-prep snacks for a cozy spooky movie marathon, here are some cute and simple spooky-themed desserts you can make without turning on the oven and use ingredients you can find at your local grocery stores.

Graveyard Dirt Cake

What you need: Chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, Oreo cookies, gummy worms, and chocolate pebbles*

This recipe requires no cooking at all — just a lot of crushing and assembling. Also known as “Oreo Dirt Cake,” this recipe includes layers of crushed Oreo cookies over chocolate cake or pudding, which you can buy ready-made from the store.

The fun part about this recipe is the decorating. Gummy worms and chocolate pebbles will surely make it look like an actual graveyard. You can even take it up a notch by placing gravestone Oreo cookies on top too!

(*) optional ingredients

Vampire Doughnuts

What you need: Doughnuts, plastic fangs (not edible), strawberry jam/red decorating gel, candy eyes, and melted chocolate

Bloodsuckers have never looked so good! This is a recipe that involves a dozen of your favorite glazed doughnuts and some plastic fangs, which you can find at most toy stores or shops that sell Halloween costumes and paraphernalia.

Simply put the fangs at the center of the doughnut hole, making it look like the vampire’s mouth. Next, put the candy eyes on top of the fangs, and use the red decorating gel or jam to put lines of red on either side of the vampire teeth. You can also use the melted chocolate to make a “Window’s Peak” hairline or any kind of hairstyle you want.

It’s no Edward Cullen, but these doughnuts sure look scrumptious!

Marshmallow Zombies

What you need: Store-bought Marshmallows, large confetti sprinkles, food coloring pens, light corn syrup, and lollipop sticks

These cute little Frankenstein’s will definitely make for a spooktastic treat and they’re absolutely easy to make! Simply grab a marshmallow (the bigger and fluffier, the better!) and use the large confetti as the eyes. You may need to use a toothpick to glue them on using the corn syrup and wait for a couple of hours for it to dry. Pro tip: Remember that some zombies only have one eye! *winks*

The next part is the decorating. Use the food coloring pens to draw the rest of their face, and voilà! You have the cutest little zombie on a stick.

Golden Snitch Ferrero

What you need: Ferrero Rochers, paper, and scissors

Here’s a magical dessert treat that will transport you right into the wonderful wizarding world of Hogwarts! And you don’t even need elaborate potions and spells for this one. Just a bit of arts and crafts.

Take your Ferrero Rocher and use the sticker on top to stick the paper-cut wings in place. If it’s difficult to shape the wings on your own, you can opt for these printable golden snitch wings online and simply cut them out.

Now you’re ready for a “Harry Potter” movie marathon!

Pretzel Wands

What you need: Pretzel rods, melted caramel/caramel sheets, your choice of melted chocolate, chocolate chips*, sprinkles*, baking sheets

Every wizard and witch needs a wand. Here’s how you can create magic with this recipe.

Pretzel rods are available in almost every supermarket, but they can become scarce during the holiday seasons as they are some of the favorite go-to snacks for parties and also make the perfect addition to your charcuterie boards.

The caramel will shape your pretzel wands to look more like uneven wooden sticks, much like in the “Harry Potter” films. If you don’t want to make a sticky mess with melted caramel, we recommend caramel sheets which you can cut into thin strips and then wrap them around the pretzels before dipping them into your choice of chocolate. After that, you can decorate with your favorite toppings! Put a little razzle-dazzle, if you please!

(*) optional ingredients

Mummy Oreos

What you need: Oreos, candy melts, and candy eyes

We can never get enough of munchies so here’s another cookie recipe to try! Oreos are the best for this recipe, but you can use any round-shaped cookie you prefer.

Candy melts are vanilla-flavored melting chocolates often used for coating and decorating. They come in different colors but since we’re mimicking the mummy’s white wraps, it’s best to use the vanilla flavor. But hey, who says you can’t have colorful mummies too?

To make these adorable Mummy Oreos, simply line your cookies on a tray and drizzle the candy melt over them to create mummy bandages. After that, put on the candy eyes and you have your very own Egyptian-inspired horror treat.

Spider Biscuits

What you need: Your choice of biscuits or crackers, pretzels, and raisins or small chocolate chips

These spider biscuits are the perfect addition to your Halloween snack tray. The best part about it is that you can use any type of biscuit with your favorite filling or opt to use plain ‘ole crackers and put your own filling in them!

Gently squeeze four pretzel sticks (the curved sides would be best for this) on opposite sides of the cookie, which will serve as the spider’s legs, and then place a couple of raisins or chocolate chips on top for the eyes. Creepy crawlies? More like cutie crawlies!

Strawberry Ghosts

What you need: Fresh strawberries, white baking chocolate or vanilla almond bark, chocolate chips, and baking sheet

Who doesn’t love chocolate-covered strawberries? Create your own little “Casper” with this delightful recipe that only requires three simple ingredients. It’s sweet, fruity, and is an amazingly cute seasonal dessert or appetizer.

Wash your strawberries first, dry them well, and set them aside on a baking sheet. Melt your white chocolate and stir until smooth. Then the fun part begins: dip your strawberries almost to the top and set them back on the sheet.

While waiting for them to harden, melt your chocolate chips in a resealable bag and use it to pipe the eyes and mouth onto your little ghosts. Just like that, you have the most adorable fruity dessert ever!