[For Seniors] Handmade Halloween Treats to Enjoy: Fun Ideas with Pumpkins and Ghosts
Why not make Halloween even more exciting with homemade treats? We’re sharing recipes full of joy to make together with older adults—from the gentle sweetness of pumpkin to adorable ghost decorations.
Mixing ingredients, enjoying the aroma while they bake, and decorating together create fun moments filled with smiles and conversation.
Let’s share the joy of making and eating together, with easy doughnuts using pancake mix and the delicate flavors of traditional Japanese sweets.
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[For Seniors] Handmade Halloween Treats to Enjoy: Fun Ideas with Pumpkins and Ghosts (11–20)
Ghostly Brownie
Let’s combine store-bought snacks to make easy Halloween treats! This recipe is perfect when you don’t have much time to prepare for a Halloween party.
These cute ghost brownies are made by pairing store-bought brownies with marshmallows.
All you do is stack the brownies and marshmallows on a baking sheet and toast them.
For the finishing touch, decorate them by drawing faces with chocolate.
Of course, if you have extra time, making the brownies from scratch would be a hit too.
Pumpkin baked cheesecake
A baked cheesecake that brings out the natural sweetness of pumpkin might be an easy-to-eat Halloween treat even for seniors.
It’s adorned with a stylish, Halloween-esque spiderweb pattern, making it perfect as a dessert for a Halloween party! The recipe uses up a full carton of heavy cream and a full block of cream cheese, which also makes it convenient to prepare.
The step where you draw the spiderweb might be a bit tricky, but the key is to move a skewer slowly and carefully to form the pattern.
And one of the great things about a whole cake is the excitement you feel when it’s time to slice and serve!
pumpkin cookies
Adorable to look at and sure to delight seniors too! How about pumpkin cookies that look just like real pumpkins? You only need five ingredients: pumpkin, butter, powdered sugar, cake flour, and a bar of chocolate.
You might be surprised at how firm the pumpkin is, but that’s part of the fun of cooking.
Draw faces on the cookies with a chocolate pen to bring out the Halloween vibe even more.
The gentle sweetness of the pumpkin and the richness of the butter, followed by a hint of bittersweet chocolate, come together into a deeply flavorful treat!
Halloween donut(s)
How about some fun-looking, bite-sized Halloween donuts that are easy to eat? If you use pancake mix, even beginners can make them with ease! First, whisk the eggs, then mix in milk, pancake mix, and sugar to make the donut batter.
Cook the batter into little balls using a takoyaki maker, and you’re done! Once they’re cooked, stick in picks, coat them with chocolate or white chocolate, and use chocolate pens to draw patterns like ghosts or mummies for a Halloween vibe.
Try designing freely with chocolate pens in different colors!
Halloween wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets)
These are nerikiri-style Halloween wagashi made with smooth white bean paste (shiro-an).
Mix cake flour into the white bean paste to make the dough, then divide it into two portions.
Shape one into a little ghost and use black sesame seeds for the eyes.
Color the other portion orange with food coloring to make a jack-o’-lantern.
After forming it into a pumpkin shape, use a spatula to create the pumpkin’s grooves.
Make the eyes and mouth with chopsticks, and your jack-o’-lantern is complete.
It’s a Halloween sweet unique to nerikiri that you can enjoy with your eyes as well as your taste.
Eyeball Milk Jelly
These slightly spooky eyeball milk jellies are perfect for Halloween.
You color them with shaved ice syrup, so they’re easy for anyone to make—that’s part of the charm! Make two types of gelatin mixture: one for the pupil and one for the white of the eye.
Pour a little of the pupil mixture into the molds and chill.
Next, pour the gelatin mixture colored with shaved ice syrup over the pupil and chill again.
Finally, dissolve gelatin and sugar in boiling water, add milk to make the white-of-the-eye gelatin, pour it into the molds, and chill until set—that’s it! It may take a bit of effort, but the surprising appearance will also provide good stimulation for seniors.
[For Seniors] Handmade Halloween Treats to Enjoy: Fun Ideas with Pumpkins and Ghosts (21–30)
Halloween cupcake
Let’s make the perfect cupcakes to add a cute touch to your Halloween party! Cupcakes are great even for beginners at homemade treats—just mix the ingredients and bake, so there’s less chance of failure.
Plus, if you bake them in muffin cups from a 100-yen shop, they make perfect party favors! You can keep the cake plain or add cocoa for a more grown-up flavor.
Top them with pumpkin cream for decoration, and you’ll capture the full Halloween vibe!