We’re not sure how, but Halloween has sneaked up on us again this year! This means with only one week left of preparation, it’s time to settle in for some last-minute seasonal baking.

 

Luckily, for those of us who are not master bakers — or are simply stretched for time — we’ve rounded up our favorite DIY Halloween sweet treats that, with the help of Georgia Crafted artisan goods, can take you less than 30 minutes to mix, bake, and serve.

 

To make matters easier, we’ve even ranked our top 3 recipes from no-stress, beginner treats to slightly more artful creations. Don’t forget to apply our time-saving tips for subbing in locally-made pumpkin spice goodies for just $7 or less!  

So whether you’re wowing your kids with a not-so-scary breakfast or whipping up spooktacular party treats, we guarantee these killer confections will leave everyone dying for more.

 

1. Jack-O-Lantern Waffles/Pancakes

 

 

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

To kick things off, we’re going with a crowd favorite — jack-o-lantern waffles for a ghastly school day surprise! For a stress-free breakfast you can cook up before carpool, we’ve settled on Ann’s Entitled Life’s fast and easy recipe.

 

Here are Ann’s recommended ingredients:

 

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 3 TBSP Sugar
• 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
• ½ TBSP Baking Powder
• 1 Egg
• ¾ cup Milk
• 1 TBSP Vanilla Extract
• Pinch Salt
• Orange Food Coloring
• Black Gel Icing
• Green Gel Icing
• Green Sprinkles

For anyone who’s ever made waffles before, Ann’s Halloween waffles can be ready to serve in just a few simple steps. However, what makes this recipe so fun is her crafty idea to draw on a mouth, nose, eyes, and stem using black and green icing and a pinch of festive sprinkles!

Even though Ann’s recipe took top prize in our book, Betty Crocker had a few creative runner-ups we thought we’d share:

 

1. Spiced Ghost Pancakes

2. Pumpkin Pancakes With Halloween Spiderwebs (pancakes with spiderweb frosting designs)

3. Spiderweb Pumpkin Pancakes (pancakes in the shape of spiderwebs)

 

Georgia Crafted Must-Know Tip #1

For a delicious fall taste with an organic edge, switch out flour, sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, egg, and vanilla extract for Southern Culture Food's Pumpkin Spice Pancake & Waffle Mix and stir in milk before pouring onto your waffle iron. You can even drizzle Blackberry Patch’s homemade Pumpkin Syrup on top for a sugary sweet glaze your kids can’t get enough of.

 

2. Mini Ghost Pumpkin Cake

 

Difficulty: Medium

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Who can resist these scrumptious specters? We for one adore Ashlee Marie’s ghostly fleet of individually-sized cakes — each one sporting a unique personality with a cheeky expression.

What’s more, these mini ghost pumpkin cakes are sure to be a smash at your next neighborhood Halloween party!

Here are Ashlee Marie’s recommended ingredients:

Cake

• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 1 3/4 C + 1 Tbs flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 lrg eggs
• 8 oz pumpkin puree
• 1/2 C mayo
• 1/2 C water

Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• 3-4 C powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

 

Essentially, this recipe boils down to preparing the pumpkin cakes first before slathering each one with cream cheese frosting and covering with napkin-sized circles of white fondant that fit snugly around the cakes like bedsheets.

Afterwards, you mix together a few dabs of black gel and vanilla and bring your ghosts to life by painting on teeny-tiny faces. It’s a baking and craft project rolled into one!  

After checking out Ashlee Marie’s mini ghost pumpkin cakes, we couldn’t resist researching other Halloween recipes recommended on her blog, and we were not disappointed. Take a look at a few of our favorite below:

  

1. Halloween Oreo Truffles by My Suburban Kitchen

2. Kid-Friendly Halloween Caramel Apple Dippers by Made By a Princess: Parties in Style

3. Halloween Dinner Party Table Setting by Frug Elegance (OK, so this isn’t a recipe but you’re going to need to know how best to present your little spooks, right?)

 

 

Georgia Crafted Must-Know Tip #2

Our chief advice is the skip baking the cake altogether and go straight for the frosting! This can easily be done by placing a few orders for JudiCakes’ Pumpkin Toffee Cream Cheese Pound Cake. These little beauties are always moist AND the babycake size is perfect for draping a ghostly fondant blanket over. By cutting out the cake making, you can serve these phantom desserts to family and friends in HALF the time!

 

3. Halloween Pumpkin Spice Latte Art

 

 

Difficulty: Hard

Cook time: Estimated 2 minutes

Design time: Estimated 30 seconds

Now, we know we ranked this one as the hardest DIY Halloween recipe on our list, but never fear. For all you wanna-be baristas out there, designing haunting latte art with just a flick of your milk steaming wand is easier than you imagined.

Here are your standard ingredients for making latte art:

• 1 shot of coffee/espresso
• 2 shots or more of foamed milk
• (Optional) 1 shot of flavored/chocolate syrup or cinnamon/chocolate powder

In addition, a few tools you may need include:

• An espresso machine
• Commercial grade milk steaming wand
• A milk frothing pitcher
• A rounded cup

Rather than walk you through how to craft various Halloween images in your latte, we decided to leave it to the professionals with this instructional video from Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee.

 

For more Halloween-inspired latte art, you can check out this handy article from Paste Magazine detailing 26 examples from well-known Atlanta barista, Cortney Kern.

 

 

Image courtesy of Perky Moose. 

 

Georgia Crafted Must-Know Tip #3

Believe it or not, not all of us have regular access to a top-grade espresso machine (though a girl can dream right?). Instead, we suggest subbing in Perky Moose’s handcrafted Pumpkin Spice Latte Mix for a creamy blend bursting with fall flavors. Afterwards, carefully pour in your foamed milk and let the creative juices flow! Trust us, your classy coffee creations will be the talk of any Halloween get-together.

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Enjoy all our locally-made pumpkin spice treats by grabbing our seasonal Pumpkin Spice Everything Nice Gift Basket, available in 3 sizes with a unique assortment of Georgia goodies.