Easy Halloween snack ideas to make at home this spooky season

Think outside of the box this spooky season with some trick-or-treat tasties.

Halloween is almost here, and if you’re looking to get creative in the kitchen come October 31 - instead of chucking out a bag of lollies on your porch and calling it done - then we’ve got a few tricks (and treats) up our sleeves.

Perfect for Halloween hoedowns, pumpkin patch parties and boo-worthy best-dressed competitions - and, of course, being hailed as the neighbourhood’s go-to house for the best sweets and snacks - here are a few out-of-the-box baking recipes to bewitch all who dare enter.

Witches’ broomsticks

These witchy snacks are just what the Halloween spooks ordered! Photo / Bite magazine

Ingredients

1 wrap, garden spinach

1 tsp tomato paste

1 handful of grated cheese

1 serving butter

1 serving olive oil

2 chives

Directions

• Heat the oven to 180C.
• Cut wrap in half.
• Lightly spread the tomato paste on to one wrap half and sprinkle with cheese.
• Roll up wrap (sticks can be as fat or as thin as you like, so have fun making many thin sticks or one big fat stick).
• Cut the remaining wrap half into four-centimetre strips, lengthways. Loosely roll up each strip then snip three-quarters of the way down, starting from top of the roll. Rotate roll around and keep snipping until all bristles are created.
• Unwrap bristle roll, then roll around the top of the stick. Attach with a small dab of butter.
• Brush with oil and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
• Tie on a chive for extra witchy-poo magic.

Halloween cupcakes

These creepy cupcakes are perfect for trick-or-treaters! Photo / Doug Sherring

Cupcakes

75g butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 ½ cups self raising flour

¾ cup milk

Buttercream icing

100g butter, softened

1 ¼ cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 drops orange food colouring

2 Tbsp milk

1 serving lollies - use an assortment of Halloween lollies

Directions

• For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 170C (fan-bake). Beat butter until light, add sugar and vanilla and beat together until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg.
• Sift the flour and add to the mix a little at a time, alternating with the milk until all combined.
• Place paper baking cases in a cupcake tin. Spoon in batter, filling the cases until they are about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Turn on to a wire rack and let cool.
• For the buttercream icing, beat butter until light and pale. Sift in the icing sugar, add the vanilla essence, food colouring and milk and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. If the mix seems too loose, add some more icing sugar, and if it seems too thick, add extra milk.
• Add the mix to a piping or zip-lock bag, cut the corner and pipe on to the cupcakes. Decorate with Halloween lollies.

Scary popcorn

Popcorn with a Halloween twist. Photo / Doug Sherring

Ingredients

1 tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp food colouring, black

1 bowl popcorn

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a large roasting tray with baking paper and evenly lay the popcorn in the tray.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar and cook until dissolved.
• Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla, salt, baking soda and food colouring. Pour the mixture over the popcorn and make sure it’s evenly coated.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

Meringue ghosts

Don't ghost these miraculous meringue creations!

Ingredients

2 egg whites, at room temperature

1 pinch cream of tartar

¾ cup caster sugar

½ tsp vanilla

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 100C.
• Place the egg whites into a spotless mixer bowl. Whisk until the egg whites are foamy.
• Turn off the mixer, add the cream of tartar, and continue beating on a medium-high speed until the whites form soft peaks.
• Start adding the caster sugar a few spoonfuls at a time with the mixer running. Once all of the sugar has been added, mix in the vanilla.
• Continue to whisk the egg whites until they are very thick, glossy, and a shiny white colour. When you stop the mixer and lift the whisk out of the whites, the whites should have a very stiff peak. This process will take about three to four minutes.
• Line two trays with baking paper. Spoon the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a six-millimetre (1/4 inch) round piping nozzle, or if you don’t have this, pour into a large zip-lock bag with a 6mm hole cut in the corner. Pipe your meringue into ghost shapes. Approximately 12 ghosts can go on to each baking sheet for a total of 24 meringue ghosts.
• Bake the meringues in the preheated oven for an hour. After an hour, open the oven door and continue to cook for 30 minutes, then turn the oven off but leave the door open.
• Use black icing to give each ghost two dots for eyes and a mouth.

Toffee apples

Toffee apples are a spooky staple come Halloween.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter (Main)

3 cups sugar

1 Tbsp white vinegar

½ cup water

½ tsp cream of tartar (Main)

8 apples, small (Wash and dry these thoroughly - take stalks and stickers off)

8 ice-block sticks

Directions

• Put the sugar, vinegar, butter and water into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.
• Add cream of tartar and bring to the boil. Do not stir. Let mixture boil until the hard-crack stage - this usually happens at 146-154C. You can check the temperature by dropping a spoonful into a bowl of cold water. When ready, it will form brittle threads in the water. This takes about 20 minutes.
• While it’s boiling, push an ice-block stick into the stem end of each apple.
• Remove pan from heat and tilt slightly. Dip the apples one by one into the toffee, turning slowly to coat.
• Make sure you let the excess drain off, otherwise you will have apples sitting in a pool of toffee. Place on a sheet of baking paper and leave until cold. If you have any toffee left over, pour it on to some baking paper and let set. Then you can break it with a hammer into lots of delicious little lollies. You can also add chopped nuts.

Treacle biscuits

These are some boo-worthy biscuits!

Ingredients

1 ⅔ cups plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp mixed spice

100g butter, salted, softened and diced

3 Tbsp soft brown sugar

4 Tbsp treacle

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp caster sugar

Directions

• Line a tray with a baking mat or paper.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and all the spices into a mixing bowl. Add the butter and sugar. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
• When all the butter is evenly mixed in, add the treacle and lemon juice. Bring the mixture together on slow speed to form a soft dough, combining lightly until it has an even colour. Mould into a slab and refrigerate for two hours.
• Preheat the oven to 170C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 5mm thick. Use your chosen cookie cutter to cut out shapes.
• Place on to the baking sheet, sprinkle with caster sugar and bake for 15 minutes until crisp.
• When cool, decorate with black icing.