Something wicked this way comes… it’s a range of frightening food and drink for Halloween. Here’s what brands and retailers have on offer this spooky season
Ladurée Halloween collection
Parisian bakery Ladurée – best known for its dainty macarons – is combining chic with spooky for this year’s Halloween collection. Its ‘Don’t Panic’ gift box, which is decorated with bats, skulls and cobwebs and glows in the dark, contains four popcorn and four vanilla macarons in seasonal designs and colours (rsp: £25). The maison is also offering a Popcorn Tart in individual (rsp: £7.50) and sharing sizes (rsp: £28). The dessert is filled with popcorn & polenta almond cream and miso caramel, topped with popcorn ganache and finished with chocolate bat decorations. The range went on sale in Ladurée’s stores and online in early October.
Funkin Spiced Rum Zombie
Pre-mixed cocktail brand Funkin is marking Halloween with the launch of an aptly named Spiced Rum Zombie, which landed in Sainsbury’s in early October (rsp: £2/200ml). The 5% abv tipple is suitable for vegans and made with pineapple juice and spiced rum for a “vibrant flavour”. It is also infused with nitrogen to achieve a “velvety texture and smooth head”, according to the brand.
Crosstown Halloween Dough Bites
There’s some black magic going on at Crosstown, which has created Halloween dough bites made from black cocoa dough. The vegan treats are filled with homemade raspberry jam, topped with a dark berry glaze and finished with a bat or pumpkin decoration. The dough bites can be bought from Crosstown stores individually (rsp: £2.70) or in boxes of three (rsp: £8) between 28 and 31 October. They are also available to preorder online as part of two special Halloween boxes.
Bebeto Halloween range
Vegan consumers can sink their fangs into a new range of sweets this Halloween, courtesy of Halal-approved brand Bebeto. The fruit-flavoured Monster Spaghetti, bubblegum Gummy Brains and strawberry & cola Fizzy Fangs are available in Asda nationwide (rsp: 89p/150g). Bebeto is also catering for trick or treat occasions with its Trick & Mix Party Pack (rsp: £3.99/750g), which will be stocked in B&M and convenience retailers.
Sushi Daily Halloween Dine in for £18 menu
Halloween isn’t all about sweet treats. Sushi lovers can also get into the spirit with this devilish Dine in for £18 menu from Sushi Daily. The fishy feast features 28 pieces of sushi, including salmon nigiri, California maki, spicy salmon crunch and an all-green veggie roll, all crafted from black rice and presented in spooky packaging. The deal will run from 25 October to 7 November at Sushi Daily counters in selected Asda and Waitrose stores.
Thorntons Toffee Apple Caramel Shortcake Bites
As well as revamping the packaging on its entire Thorntons cake bites range, Finsbury Food Group has added a handful of new treats to the lineup this year. These include a new Halloween variant, Toffee Apple Caramel Shortcake Bites, which went on sale in Spar, Nisa, Co-op and Tesco in early September (rsp: £1/pack of eight). The bites feature a crumbly shortcake base, covered with apple-flavoured caramel and topped with milk chocolate.
Lily’s Kitchen Spooky Chicken Paté
Fear not, cat owners: there’s nothing scary about this Spooky Chicken Paté from Lily’s Kitchen. Promising “proper meat”, natural ingredients and no added sugar, this grain-free meal can be found on the brand’s website and in independent pet shops (rsp: 90p).
Burrell’s Pumpkin Spice Gin
Lincolnshire distillery Massingberd-Mundy is spicing things up this autumn with a limited-edition variant of its flagship Burrell’s Dry Gin. Featuring warming botanicals such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla, the Pumpkin Spiced Gin is made using pumpkins from the nearby South Ormsby Estate and Redhouse Farm, who will also be exclusive stockists. However, shoppers must move fast to get their hands on a bottle, as only 150 have been produced (rsp: £39/700ml).
Daylesford Halloween range
There are some ghostly goings-on at Daylesford this year. As well as these spooky meringues (rsp: £3.49), the organic retailer has added iced biscuits (rsp: £4.99) and chocolate bars (rsp: £3.99) adorned with ghosts, alongside bat and pumpkin designs. Other new additions are milk and white chocolate owl lollies (rsp: £2.99) and a hot chocolate bomb filled with marshmallows (rsp: £3.99).
Craft & Crumb Creepy Coffins kit
Consumers that prefer to bake their own Halloween treats can do so using this kit from Craft & Crumb. The Creepy Coffins kit (rsp: £19.99) contains the ingredients to make 15 to 20 iced gingerbread biscuits, as well as a ghost-shaped cutter. There is also an activity sheet for constructing a cardboard coffin box, which can be used to store or gift the ghoulish biscuits.
Tom Savano Dangerous Diablo Spicy Mezcal Margarita
Maker of handcrafted, “travel-inspired” bottled cocktails Tom Savano is transporting consumers to Mexico with its latest launch, a Spicy Mezcal Margarita. Made using smoky mezcal and hot scotch bonnet chilli, the tipple is available in single bottles (rsp: £32/500ml) and a gift set (rsp: £45), which contains drinks coasters, snacks and a pair of mini skull glasses inspired by el Día de los Muertos.
Mr Kipling Toffee Apple Pies
Mr Kipling’s classic apple pies are getting a seasonal twist this year, inspired by an iconic bonfire night treat. The pies, which feature a toffee-flavoured apple filling encased in crumbly pastry, landed in supermarkets in September (rsp: £1.50/pack of six).
Popcorn Shed Letterbox Gift
Whether it’s a treat for themselves or a spooky surprise for a friend, this Happy Halloween Letterbox Gift from Popcorn Shed is designed to accompany consumers’ scary movie nights (rsp: £12.50). Inside the letterbox-sized package, which is decorated with ghosts and bats, are three gourmet popcorn flavours: Salted Caramel, Say Cheese and a vanilla caramel Halloween Mix, which is green and orange in colour.
Pleesecakes Chuffles
Move over, cronuts. There’s a new hybrid dessert in town that would make Victor Frankenstein proud. Meet Chuffles, a combination of cheesecake and truffles created by dessert delivery brand Pleesecakes. First launched earlier this year, the treats are now getting a range of special flavours for Halloween: Sour Lime, Black Forest, Raspberry Caramel and Vanilla White Chocolate. The confections – which feature a thick chocolate shell with a soft cheesecake filling – come in a range of gory and garish designs. They can be purchased from Selfridges and the Pleesecakes website (rsp: £24/pack of 24) and are also available for delivery in London via Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat.
Sainsbury’s Spicy Hell’s Chicken Halloween Sandwitch
Sainsbury’s is embracing spooky season this year with the launch of its first dedicated autumn range, which features plenty of warming and wintry flavours. As well as a Taste the Difference Pumpkin Spice Houmous, the supermarket is adding a spicy new sarnie – or should we say ‘sandwitch’. Available from early October, the product features a black charcoal bun, filled with spicy Korean-inspired gochujang marinated chicken chunks, red leicester cheese, coleslaw and apollo leaf lettuce (rsp: £3).
Gail’s Halloween biscuits
Fancy a severed digit to nibble alongside your cappuccino? That’s just what bakery chain Gail’s is offering this month, in the form of its almond macaroon Monster Fingers (rsp: £1.70). The ‘soft and chewy’ finger-shaped biscuits even feature a whole blanched almond fingernail, attached with raspberry jam. They will be joined in stores by Skeleton Speculoos biscuits (rsp: £1.70), which are lightly spiced and piped with a skeleton design.
Wicked Planet Pulled Mushroom Pizza
There’s no rest for the wicked, especially at Halloween. This year, the man behind Wicked Kitchen, Derek Sarno, has teamed up with plant-based pizza brand One Planet for a spooky limited edition launch. The Pulled Mushroom pizza (rsp: £3.99) features a thin, stonebaked base topped with tomato sauce, bbq pulled oyster mushrooms, black olives, vegan cheese and sriracha mayo. The product, which can be purchased from the One Planet Pizza website, is finished with a final ghoulish addition: a ghost made from Violife cheese.
Ardbeg Monsters of Smoke
Billed as “the ultimate introduction to the weird world of Ardbeg”, this terrifying trio of Scotch whiskies features three smoky drams from the Scottish distiller. The titular Monsters of Smoke are the “supremely smoky” Ten Years Old, five-year-old Wee Beastie and An Oa, a “complex whisky” with ”sweet and subtle smoke”. Also featuring unique horror-inspired artwork beneth each bottle’s peelable label, the selection lands on Amazon and the Ardbeg website this month (rsp: £39).
Starbucks Halloween range
Consumer coffee breaks just got creepier, as Starbucks is adding a trio of new products for spooky season this year. The first is a Cherry & Scream Frappuccino (rsp: £4.15), a creamy vanilla and cherry drink topped with berry flavoured whipped cream and a gruesome green finger. This is joined by a Chilling Cherry Cupcake (rsp: £2.09), which is also flavoured with vanilla and cherry and topped with a white chocolate eyeball, and a Gingerbread Skeleton Biscuit (rsp: £1.99).
Beavertown Flesh
Beavertown has created a beer as “black and cold as the Devil’s heart” for Halloween this year: a black lager called Flesh. The brewer has made the beer by roasting its Bones lager and adding dark malt for a hint of bitterness. The “jet black” brew is available to buy from the Beavertown web shop in single cans (rsp: £2.30/330ml) and a Flesh & Bones bundle (rsp: £20), which contains a glass and four cans each of Flesh and Bones.
Deliveroo ‘body parts’ pies
You’ve heard of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Now enter the Demonic Butchery and Pie Emporium, which opens its doors on the infamous street this Halloween weekend. Created by Deliveroo, the pie shop will serve gruesome pies containing faux body parts such as thumbs, eyeballs and bones. Available in three flavours – beef, bone marrow & stout, chicken, smoked ham hock & leek and vegan mushroom stroganoff – the pies will be given away to consumers that ‘pay’ for them in the form of a scream. They will also be available to order via the Deliveroo app in Manchester, Bristol and London until 31 October (rsp: £1.75).
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