3 Healthy Halloween Treats

By Jessica Campbell, MS, FNTP

Halloween is such a popular time to throw parties and eat all the junk food. It seems like all the cute Pinterest ideas are full of sugar, ingredients that are hard to pronounce, and chemicals that are damn near impossible for your immune system to recover from.

But being healthy shouldn’t mean we can’t have fun!

No need to worry, I’ve got you covered with 3 healthy Halloween treats that will live up to your Pinterest dreams! Whether it's a few finger foods for the adults, some sweet pumpkins for your little ones, or a healthier happy hour cocktail, these snacks are super cute and healthy to boot.


Finger Cookies

I offer you my favorite almond shortbread cookies as a naturally gluten-free food that tastes amazing. I like to make them into the shapes of fingers for 2 reasons.

  1. It's really fun to make "werewolf" fingers for Halloween or "finger foods" for a party. To make them werewolf fingers I simply exchange hazelnut flour for a darker cookie.
  2. I love to use a slivered almond "fingernail" because it alerts people that these have nuts in case they have allergies.

You’ll have fun making these; they’re so incredibly fast and easy. My kids would often make them right after school for a healthy snack. It doesn't make a big batch so double it, keep them on the smaller size, and save a few for a quick and healthy breakfast.


Finger Cookie Recipe!

  • 1 3/4 cup almond meal or hazelnut meal
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 cup raw honey or maple syrup
  • 1 stick or 1/2 cup grass fed butter cold and cut into pieces
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Slivered or sliced almonds for claws or fingernails
  • *optional for healthy fats, 1 Tbsp ground flaxseeds or flax meal

  1. Mix flours and salt together in a large or medium sized bowl
  2. Squish in butter until crumbly and consistent
  3. Add honey and vanilla extract
  4. If you want to, add chocolate chips (they are excellent with or without)
  5. Roll dough into finger shapes and place on parchment paper or a baking silpat
  6. Add a "claw or fingernail" almond to each one
  7. Heat oven to 350
  8. Bake for 10-12 minutes
  9. Best when cooled and dipped in whole milk

Watch Video Directions for the cookies here: https://vimeo.com/156803954


Halloween Creatures

Ghosts, graveyards, and pumpkins, oh my! We all love to play with our food. These Halloween creatures are fun to make and fun to eat! You can even use it as an afternoon family activity.

Halloween Graveyard Dip

Fill a plate with refried beans or hummus mixed with a bit of pesto. Arrange hard-boiled eggs as the ghosts, bok choy, broccoli, or celery as the trees, and crackers to make a little graveyard. Use seaweed to make RIP letters and use a hole-punch for the seaweed eyes on your hard-boiled egg ghosts. These graveyard scenes are so fun to eat!

Banana Ghosts and Persimmon Pumpkins

Want to serve some ghoulish delights that won't spike the kid’s blood sugar? Try these banana ghosts and persimmon pumpkins. The serving size is just right for little hands. Don’t have persimmons? Clementines work well too and make a great after school snack and activity!

I use seaweed to cut out the faces for the persimmons and chocolate chips for the ghost eyes. You can use walnuts for the pumpkin stems or celery pieces. Be creative, you might be surprised what gets eaten when the food as art is fun.

Spooky Punch         

What do we serve to drink? Kombucha of course, fizzy, strange, and oddly tasting. You could float red raspberries or smashed strawberries to look like blood and add some Seltzer to really get some fizz.

If I were serving the kombucha to kids for Halloween, I would leave the SCOBY, a Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast floating in it like the jars below. It’s creepy and a fun reminder of how kombucha is made. For the adults however, I might try the below version of a Healthier Happy Hour Halloween Highball.

Want to make your own Kombucha? Try a starter kit from Cultures For Health!*


Dark & Stormy

Consider serving a Dark & Stormy this year for a healthier happy hour treat. Typically made with ginger beer and dark rum with a squeeze of lime. I’m thinking of using a spicy ginger kombucha, with or without rum, and definitely with a squeeze of lime for added vitamin C. Rum is naturally sweet and doesn’t need a sweet mixer, so you can take advantage of that and make a healthier highball. 

The kombucha has sugar in it, but the SCOBY or kombucha starter is a bacteria of yeast that consumes the sugar and ferments it into a probiotic elixir that is beneficial to your gut. 

If you’re going for a pure healthy Halloween, you may want to skip the rum and have a delicious ginger lime mocktail. 

However, if you want the real deal, go for a dark rum to create the dark drink, and enjoy a cocktail a little bit healthier than straight ginger beer. My husband wanted a super kick so he went for the new hard Kombucha’s. No matter what style you choose, stick to the ginger lime profile to stay true to the flavors of a dark and stormy.


Dark & Stormy Recipe

2 oz Dark Rum

4oz Ginger Kombucha 

Squeeze of fresh lime


Building a healthy Food Foundation is not about depriving yourself of treats. We simply see REAL food as delicious treats and have fun playing with our food.


Do you have a few good ideas? Please share them on my social media post, I love learning new tips!

*Disclaimer: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.