Bloggers have a way of making the least crafty of us believe we can make miracles happen in the kitchen.
You see an "easy" recipe for Jack O'Lantern cupcakes and optimistically embark on a baking frenzy as if you were one of the pros. You've done your measuring, you've done your sculpting and you take your creation out of the oven -- expecting handiwork of the gods -- only to find a disaster that would end up in an admittedly hilarious "Pinterest fails" list.
Halloween is just weeks away, and you're determined to end up on the internet to be celebrated for your impressive craftsmanship, not your amusing shortcomings.
Very well, then. We've compiled a list of spooky treats that require minimal time, ingredients, tools and skill -- all without compromising cuteness.
These simple, customizable brownies will transport you to your days as a tot, when you frolicked through pumpkin patches without a care in the world. The little signs come together with just popsicle sticks and glue.
Put the "oooo" in "spooooky" by painting icing faces on melty marshmallow ghosts.
3. Fanta Jack O'Lantern Floats
If you define "technique" as piling ingredients into a glass and calling it a day, this is the sweet treat for you. Fanta and vanilla ice cream come together to create a delightfully Jack O'Lantern-esque dessert beverage.
4. Cinnamon Sugar Flour Tortilla Crisps
If super sweet isn't your style, give these bat crisps a try. Their light dusting of cinnamon sugar will charm even the harshest of cynics.
5. Monster Strawberry Cupcakes
Sneak up on your friends with these bad boys, and they will NOT be upset. The strawberry critters look professionally done, but you can pull it off. Simply make a mouth-shaped incision in the berry, cover the hole with chocolate and decorate it with tiny teeth once it hardens. Finally, rest the mini monsters atop their leafy thrones.
6. Graveyard Chocolate Cheesecake Dip
At long last, the iconic shape of the Milano cookie reveals its ultimate purpose: to look like a gravestone. Slap a sizeable "RIP" on each cookie and line them up in the crushed-Oreo-topped dessert dip of your choosing.
You could use beets to give this all-natural frosting its brain-like hue, or you could use food coloring. Either way, they'll give your cranium a BOOst. (See what we did there?)
Finally, spiders that don't require the steady hand of a painter to recreate. Extra points for their peanut-butter cup bodies.
9. Rice Krispies Treat Mummies
These are what you make when you've got a Halloween potluck to attend and only 15 minutes to spare. Whip out some Rice Krispies Treats, cover them in melted white chocolate and decorate with icing in a jiffy.
10. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Halloween treats can indeed be classy. Put a tiny pumpkin to use by sticking it in the center of this beautiful bundt cake.