The Best Halloween Treats for Kids

By MyRecipes

Updated August 14, 2018

Credit: Oxmoor House

We've rounded up our best Halloween treats for kids so you can spend more time working on that costume and less time scrolling through Pinterest. These Halloween treats for kids are a great idea if you're hosting a pre-trick-or-treating party or just pulling together a fun fall gathering this month. Cake pops, cat-shaped cakes, and dipped apples headline this classic collection. Don't miss the meringue ghosts! The great news about these treats? Adults will love them, too!

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Frankenstein Cookies

Credit: Darcy Lenz

Frankenstein Cookies Recipe

Starting with refrigerated, store-bought cookie dough, these cooky Frankenstein cookies are an easy Halloween baking project to whip up this year. That said, packaged cookie dough is made to spread, so if you’d rather your Frankenstein cookies have rectangular or otherwise shaped faces (as opposed to these round-faced cuties), you can use a classic cut-out cookie dough that will better hold its shape. Follow the same method for coloring the dough, and then simply cut it into the shapes you want (freehand or using rectangular cookie cutters). In the recipe below, we provided a suggested path for decorating your Frankenstein cookies, but definitely feel free to go about designing and decorating these tasty little monsters however you please. If you’d rather, you can bake the green cookies plain and decorate as you please using only icing pens once they have cooled. Keep in mind—it’s OK if they’re a little messy, they are monsters after all.

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Ghost Cookies

Credit: Sara Tane

Ghost Cookies Recipe

Prepare for a sweet scare when these adorable Halloween ghost cookies are all iced, decorated, and ready to party. Super easy and kid-friendly to make, these butter cut-out cookies coated with royal icing are the perfect dessert for your Halloween spread. Candy eyeballs add a playful, whimsical touch to these spooky treats, but you could also use black icing to draw eyes on your ghost cookies. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your ghost cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Whip up a batch with the kids and let them go to town with the decorating for a fun Halloween kitchen activity.

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Witch's Hat Cake

Credit: Time Inc. Video Studio

Witch's Hat Cake Recipe

For a spooky spin on your Halloween-inspired sheet cake, look no further than this festive witch's hat cake. We opted for boxed cake mix for simplicity, but if there's a homemade recipe you prefer, that works too. As long as you're ready to get a little crafty and extra witchy, this easy, Halloween dessert will come together in a flash.

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Little Monster Cupcakes

Credit: Mark Thomas

Little Monster Cupcakes Recipe

Decorate cupcakes for Halloween by creating not-too-scary monster faces on top of the cupcakes using colored frostings and an assortment of candies.

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Mummy Buckeyes

Credit: Caitlin Bensel

Mummy Buckeyes Recipe

Our two-bite treats are scary-simple to make and a ghoulishly good addition to your spread of haunted sweets. When it comes time to wrap the mummies in chocolate, let the kids help out for a fun holiday craft.

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Halloween Spider Cookies

Credit: Sara Tane

Halloween Spider Cookies Recipe

Landing somewhere between adorable and slightly spooky, these Halloween spider cookies are sure to fulfill all your creepy-crawly sweet needs for your upcoming Halloween festivities. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your spider cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Decorate these Halloween cut-out cookies with black gel icing, royal icing, candy eyes, orangle and black sprinkles, or whatever fun decorations you have on hand. These cookies make for a playful, spooky food craft that grown-ups and kids alike can enjoy.

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Candy Corn Cookies

Credit: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Linda Hirst

Candy Corn Cookies Recipe

Those fancy Halloween slice-and-bake cookies are a breeze to make at home thanks to a little food coloring. And trust us, these candy corn cookies are infinitely more delicious than the Halloween candy they’re inspired by (no offense if you like candy corn). Easy to make and absolutely adorable, these autumn-inspired treats are as perfect to send for the kids’ school Halloween party as they are to bring to your own fall festivities. You can even prep the dough a few days in advance and refrigerate, so that baking off the candy corn cookies is a breeze on the day you plan to eat them. Just follow the recipe through step 3, and be sure to wrap the loaf pan tightly with a few layers of plastic wrap.

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Jack-o'-Lantern Sugar Cookies

Credit: Andrew McCaul; Styling: Gerri Williams for James Reps

Jack-o'-Lantern Sugar Cookies Recipe

Tina Butler, 47, Royse City, Texas, mommyskitchen.net

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Halloween Kitty Cake

Credit: Oxmoor House

Halloween Kitty Cake Recipe

What a sweet kitty this is! The cake is baked, cut into shapes and then put together to make a purr-fect cake for any Halloween party.

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Lookie-Lookie Cookie Pops

Credit: Oxmoor House

Lookie-Lookie Cookie Pops Recipe

These fun, kid-friendly, and super yummy cookie pops are the perfect treat for Halloween! Your friends and family will not be able to resist one–or two, or three.