All-Treats, No-Tricks Guide to Vegan Halloween Sweets

With the most sweets-centric holiday just around the corner, it is crucial that we each take a moment to scan our pantries and decide whether or not we are prepared for Halloween. So stop brainstorming costume ideas and make sure you are well-stocked with treats that are free of dairy, gelatin, and other things that go bump in the night before the flood of trick-or-treaters arrives!

Finding inexpensive vegan Halloween candy at the grocery or convenience store is a breeze, with many products making the cut. VegNews offers an incredible list if you want a deep dive, but some easy-to-find names include Airheads Taffy, Charms Blow Pops, Hot Tamales, Pez, and the much-beloved Swedish Fish.

If you’re a culinary whiz and want to wow your guests with homemade treats, Halloween cuisine, being mostly defined by sugar and spooky presentation, offers recipes for all skill (and patience) levels.

• Homemade Vegan Candy Corn, from the Urban Housewife
• Spooky Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats, from Chocolate-covered Katie
• Three-Ingredient Halloween Apple Bites (a healthy option!), from Oh She Glows

Rest in Semi-Sweet Pieces Brownies
makes 12 generously sized burial plots

• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 ¼ cup crushed Oreo cookies
• 12 Vienna Fingers cookies (or similarly shaped cookies)
• Black cake decorating gel (many varieties are dairy-free)

Preheat the oven to 350^oF.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir in the wet ingredients. If desired, add chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts to the mix.

Pour mixture into a greased 9″- x 13″-inch baking pan, and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. While the brownies are baking, use the gel to decorate the Vienna Fingers as gravestone markers, leaving the lower third of each cookie blank.

While brownies are still warm, push Vienna Fingers into the brownies, evenly spaced. Once the brownies are cool, cut out the graves between the “markers”, then place the crumbled Oreo cookies in mounds in front of each marker.