Easy Halloween recipes

A chocolate fudge cake with a white chocolate spiderweb is the most spectacular for the least effort. Our 15 sweet Halloween recipes go from super simple to fully decked out: Halloween chocolate cake with a spiderweb, Halloween cookies: ghost and pumpkin shortbread, chocolate spider cupcakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cinnamon muffins, graveyard chocolate pudding, meringue ghosts, witch's candy apples, almond witch fingers, pumpkin clementines and ghost bananas, graveyard brownies, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, spiderweb crêpes, ghost cake pops and witch's popcorn.

Everyday dishes, in costume: pumpkin soup as a witch's brew, shepherd's pie with a spiderweb on the mash, spaghetti as a worm nest. Our ready-made Halloween menus give you the whole meal, with the grocery list and the game plan.

The ones where they get to do something: rolling up the sausage mummies, placing the eyes on the meringue ghosts, planting worms in the graveyard pudding, dressing up the fruit. 40 of our recipes can be made with them; the candy apples, with their scorching-hot caramel, are a grown-up job.

Start with in-season squash and everyday dishes. Our Halloween dinner for the kids comes to about $6.39 per person, at average supermarket prices.

Yes: graveyard chocolate pudding, witch's candy apples, pumpkin clementines and ghost bananas, deviled eggs with olive spiders, pumpkin soup, the witch's brew, pumpkin hummus with veggie fingers, butternut squash and sage risotto, spaghetti bolognese, the worm nest with mozzarella eyes, bat toasts with tapenade, witch's magic potion, alcohol-free, witch's hot chocolate with ghost marshmallows, cauldron chili sin carne, pumpkin gnocchi with sage butter, spiderweb crêpes, ghost cake pops, witch's popcorn, alcohol-free Halloween punch, pumpkin cinnamon smoothie, homemade pumpkin spice latte, swamp mint milkshake, frog egg potion, sunset potion, grenadine and orange, ghostly white hot chocolate, hot spiced apple juice, green monster smoothie and witch's purple potion are made on the stovetop or with no cooking at all.

A witch's potion: a sparkling juice with floating lychee eyeballs, or a hot chocolate with ghost marshmallows. All 12 of our Halloween drinks are alcohol-free, for kids and grown-ups alike: witch's magic potion, alcohol-free, witch's hot chocolate with ghost marshmallows, alcohol-free Halloween punch, pumpkin cinnamon smoothie, homemade pumpkin spice latte, swamp mint milkshake, frog egg potion, sunset potion, grenadine and orange, ghostly white hot chocolate, hot spiced apple juice, green monster smoothie and witch's purple potion.

Eat it! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cinnamon muffins, pumpkin soup, the witch's brew, pumpkin hummus with veggie fingers, pumpkin and ham macaroni bake, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, pumpkin ricotta lasagna with a spiderweb, cauldron chili sin carne, pumpkin gnocchi with sage butter, pumpkin cinnamon smoothie and homemade pumpkin spice latte all use it. The flesh steams in twenty minutes, and a hollowed-out pumpkin makes the perfect tureen for the soup.