If you want to make some scary but yummy Halloween treats, the easiest things to do are Halloween muffins. You can use your favourite recipe or even buy ready-made muffins or cupcakes then decorate them the way you want to.

Every year I make different Halloween muffins and cupcakes. For the base my mum and I bake simple chocolate or carrot muffins –  but Christmassy-type muffins are perfect too. Into the batter you can add extra chocolate bits, marshmallows, raisins, nuts and seeds to make the muffins more scary inside!

Here are some muffins I’ve made this year and last year:

Spider muffins

• Bake some chocolate muffins, then brush them with some melted chocolate
• Scatter some grated chocolate on top.
• Cut liquorice laces and strawberry strings into legs.
• Make some holes in the side of muffins with a wooden skewer and push in the legs.
• Using the melted chocolate glue some sweets on the top as eyes.

Spider-web muffins

My muffins don’t look very pretty, but if you follow these steps they will be perfect:

1. Cut off the top of the muffins, they should be flat.
2. Cover the top with white icing (you can use buttercream or cream-cheese). When it’s hard, draw some circles inside each other with a chocolate pen or melted chocolate, then draw lines across them (starting from the centre point)

Mummy muffins

You can make mummy muffins two different ways. Both are very easy!

1. Cover the top of the muffins with icing, buttercream or cream cheese but leaving a gap for the eyes. Use a toddler’s knife and make bandage-like marks on the top of the cream. Glue two sweets in the middle as eyes.
2. Roll out some fondant icing (I used a ready-rolled sheet) and cut 1 cm strips. Wrap the muffins with these “bandages”, leaving gaps for the eyes and maybe the mouth.
3. Glue some sweets as eyes in the gaps

Ghost muffins

You can make easy ghost muffins in many many ways!

1, cut out square shapes of rolled-out fondant icing, more than big enough to cover each muffins well. Wrap these around them, shaping them with your fingers into a ghost. Then draw eyes and a scary mouth on the side with a chocolate pen.

2, bake your muffins to rise a bit higher (add more baking powder to the batter). When cooled, cover them with icing, buttercream or cream cheese. Stick two chocolate chips on each as eyes.

3, put a large white marshmallow on the top of each muffin, then pour over it some melted white chocolate or icing. When set, draw some eyes on the front with chocolate writing pen.

Creepy-crawly muffins

These are the easiest muffins to make! Just cover the muffins with chocolate sauce or buttercream, scatter some chocolate sprinkles or desiccated coconut, then push a wine-gum crawly creature inside the muffin and another one to the side. Alternatively place a chocolate/fondant mouse, spider, eyeball or creepy creature on the top and there you are!