Healthy Halloween? 38 desserts ranked from best to worst

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Healthy Halloween? 38 desserts ranked from best to worst

Halloween is all about thrills, chills, and sugar highs. In fact, 94% of Americans say they share candy, chocolate, and sweet treats with family and friends throughout the spooky season. But if you’re working on weight loss goals, this time of year can feel scary in all the wrong ways.

It can be tricky navigating the season’s plethora of treats. Hers offers tips for enjoying the spirit of Halloween without ghosting all your favorite goodies.

Hers looked at 38 Halloween-themed desserts from Allrecipes.com and ranked them from healthiest to unhealthiest, so you can find options that work for you and your health goals. To determine the rankings, the following nutritional factors were considered:

• Calories: Staying mindful of your dessert intake can help lower your calorie consumption on Halloween and beyond.
• Carbs: Limiting carbs and added sugars is an essential component of weight management.
• Saturated fat: Lowering your overall saturated fat intake can reduce the risk of heart problems in the future.
• Sugar: Consuming too much sugar can lead to overeating and increase your risk of obesity.
• Protein: While protein isn’t typically associated with Halloween desserts, some options have higher levels than others.
• Fiber: Eating fiber-rich foods, especially fruits and vegetables, can help with weight loss.

Key Findings

• Halloween cookies top the list of healthy desserts, making it easy to control portion size while enjoying various treats.
• Candy apples are deceptively high in calories and sugar, putting some recipes at the bottom of the ranking.
• Pumpkin-flavored desserts rank throughout the list, so it’s important to check their nutrition values before assuming they’re healthy options.

Halloween Dessert Recipes Ranked from Healthiest to Unhealthiest

1. Pumpkin Spice Cookies

2. Soft Pumpkin Cookies

3. Peanut Butter Blossoms

4. Black Magic Cake

5. Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies

6. Peanut Butter Spider Cookies

7. Spooky Witches' Fingers

8. Spooky Cherry Eyeball Pies

9. The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

10. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

11. Salted Pumpkin Caramels

12. Halloween Mini Cheesecakes and Iced Pumpkin Cookies (tied)

14. Best Ever Popcorn Balls

15. Pumpkin Empanadas

16. "Black Magic" Chocolate Chip Cookies and Caramel Apples (tied)

18. Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

19. Homemade Fresh Pumpkin Pie

20. Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

21. Pumpkin Cupcakes

22. Caramels

23. Kitty Litter Cake

24. Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll

25. Creepy Halloween Skull Cupcakes

26. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

27. Double Layer Pumpkin Pie

28. Halloween Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

29. Apple Hand Pies

30. Quick and Easy Dirt Cups

31. Pumpkin-Black Cocoa Swirl Cake

32. Deviled Blondies

33. Halloween Zombie Guts Cinnamon Rolls

34. Pumpkin Fudge

35. Chocolate Dipped Apples

36. Pumpkin Oreo Cupcakes

37. Dirt Cake

38. The Best Caramel Apples

Halloween Dessert Nutrition: Trends and Insights

Here’s a breakdown of how the best and worst desserts rank in specific nutrition categories.

Which Halloween Desserts Have the Most Calories?

Desserts With the Most Calories

1. Dirt Cake: 827 cal.
2. The Best Caramel Apples: 799 cal.
3. Apple Hand Pies: 729 cal.

Desserts With the Fewest Calories

1. Salted Pumpkin Caramels: 57 cal.
2. Spooky Witches’ Fingers: 72 cal.
3. Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies: 90 cal.

Which Halloween Desserts Have the Most Carbs?

Desserts With the Most Carbs

1. Pumpkin Oreo Cookies and Quick and Easy Dirt Cups (tied): 60g
2. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies: 54g
3. Halloween Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Halloween Zombie Guts Cinnamon Rolls, and Pumpkin Fudge (tied): 50g

Desserts With the Least Carbs

1. Spooky Witches’ Fingers: 8g
2. Salted Pumpkin Caramels: 9g
3. Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies: 12g

Which Halloween Desserts Have the Most Saturated Fat?

Desserts With the Most Saturated Fat

1. Dirt Cake: 23g
2. Chocolate Dipped Apples and The Best Caramel Apples (tied): 17g
3. Deviled Blondies: 15g

Desserts With the Least Saturated Fat

The following desserts have just one gram of saturated fat:

Best Ever Popcorn Balls, Black Magic Cake, Pumpkin Spice Cookies, Salted Pumpkin Caramels, and Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Which Halloween Desserts Have the Most Sugar?

Desserts With the Most Sugar

1. The Best Caramel Apples: 113g
2. Dirt Cake: 69g
3. Chocolate Dipped Apples: 64g

Desserts With the Least Sugar

1. Spooky Witches’ Fingers: 2g
2. Spooky Cherry Eyeball Pies: 5g
3. Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies: 6g

Which Halloween Desserts Have the Most Protein?

Desserts With the Most Protein

1. Dirt Cake: 10g
2. Apple Hand Pies: 9g
3. Halloween Mini Cheesecakes and Pumpkin-Black Cocoa Swirl Cake (tied): 8g

Desserts With the Least Protein

1. Salted Pumpkin Caramels: 0g
2. Best Ever Popcorn Balls, Caramels, Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies, Iced Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Spooky Witches’ Fingers (tied): 1g

Which Halloween Desserts Have the Most Fiber?

Desserts With the Most Fiber

1. Chocolate Dipped Apples: 10g
2. Apple Hand Pies: 6g
3. The Best Caramel Apples: 5g

Desserts With the Least Fiber

The following desserts contain no fiber:

Caramels, Creepy Halloween Skull Cupcakes, Peanut Butter Spider Cookies, Pumpkin Fudge, Salted Pumpkin Caramels, Spooky Witches’ Fingers, and The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

3 Tips to Stay Healthy On Halloween

Halloween is sort of the unofficial kickoff to the holiday season, a time of year notorious for sabotaging weight loss goals. So set yourself up for success this year by getting off to a smart start. Here are three ways to maintain your health goals in October and beyond.

1. Start with a healthy meal: Before you head to a party or take your kids trick-or-treating, eat a nutritious meal to satiate your appetite. Then, when it’s time for dessert or candy, a small treat is all you’ll need.
2. Take a walk: Halloween is the perfect season for a walk around the neighborhood. Go check out all the decorations and soak in the last of the falling leaves. Just a 10-minute walk after eating lowers blood sugar levels.
3. Opt for fun-size treats: Whether you’re going for candy, dessert, or a mixture of both, exercise mindful portion control. To stay on track, check actual serving sizes on nutrition labels rather than eyeballing it.

Methodology: How Scores Were Calculated

The list of Halloween desserts came from Allrecipes.com and totaled 38 options after removing three recipes that did not list sugar content in their nutritional facts. Then Hers ranked the entire list based on having higher levels of protein and fiber and lower levels of calories, saturated fat, net carbs, and sugar. Protein and saturated fat each received a 2x multiplier. Get the data.

This story was produced by Hers and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.