Halloween week means a bowl of fun-size bars sitting on the counter for seven days straight. I do better when something I made is already waiting in the fridge, so here’s what I make. Everything on the list runs from 0 to 5 Points a serving, and swaps change the number, so check your app if you improvise. There are plenty more in the snack collection.
Sweet
1. Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles
These look like they came out of a candy box, and nobody needs to know they started as pumpkin puree. Mix the puree with oat flour, cinnamon and a little sweetener, roll it into walnut-sized balls, chill them, then dip in melted dark chocolate. No oven anywhere in that. They’re 2 Points a truffle and they keep in the fridge all week, so one after dinner is an easy yes.
2. Weight Watchers Caramel Apples
This is the one Halloween treat I’m not giving up. The trick is sugar-free caramel candies melted down with a splash of almond milk, and small Granny Smith apples so the caramel-to-apple ratio stays sensible.
Scrub the wax off the apples first or the caramel slides right off. Sprinkles or not, you’re at 5 Points an apple.
3. Zero-Point Weight Watchers Jello Grapes
A bag of these in the freezer is my answer to the three o’clock candy run.
Rinse the grapes, roll them one at a time in sugar-free jello powder, and freeze them for half an hour. The outside goes a bit like sherbet and the grape underneath stays sweet and juicy.
And they’re zero Points.
4. Trail Mix Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls
Lunch bag snack, a week’s worth. Oats, coconut, pecans, almonds and dried blueberries, plus a few mini chocolate chips, all held together with peanut butter and honey. Chill the mix, roll it into 20 balls with damp hands, and that’s it. One bowl, no oven, 1 Point a ball, and they travel without falling apart.
5. Weight Watchers No Bake Cookies
Sweet and salty, which is exactly what the candy bowl is selling. Crushed pretzels and mini chocolate chips go into oats with light peanut butter, no sugar added caramel sauce and a little honey.
Chill the mix, then hand the bowl to the kids, because rolling is their job. Keep the cookies cold. Each one is 2 Points.
6. Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Krispie Granola Treats
Bring maple syrup and brown sugar just to a boil, stir in light peanut butter, then fold in rice cereal, oats and chopped almonds. Press it into a pan, cut into 16 squares while it’s soft, then chill. Sticky fingers, no oven, and a square comes to 2 Points.
7. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites
If you’re bringing something to a party, bring these. They look fancier than the work involved. A graham crumbs base gets pressed into mini muffin liners, then a light cream cheese and pumpkin filling with nutmeg and vanilla goes on top. Fourteen minutes in the oven, a chill, then a swirl of whipped cream and a few pumpkin seeds.
The batch makes 24, at 2 Points for each little cheesecake.
8. Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Soft, not crunchy, and only seven ingredients, one of them a single tablespoon of butter. Rolled oats, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, raisins and stevia come together in a bowl and bake in about 15 minutes. There’s an air fryer option too, if you only want a few at a time. One cookie, 1 Point.
Savory, for the party tray
9. Cream Cheese Pumpkin Dip
Five minutes, six ingredients, one bowl. Light cream cheese, pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt, a spoon of brown sugar, pumpkin spice and cinnamon, stirred together and done.
Put it out with apple slices and graham crackers. A quarter cup is 3 Points, and the recipe shows the one swap that takes the number lower.
10. Dill Pickle Dip
For the pickle people in your house, and 2 Points a quarter cup. Light cream cheese, Greek yogurt and fat-free sour cream, loosened with pickle juice, with a cup of diced baby dills and a clove of garlic folded in. It makes two cups, so there’s enough for the pretzel crisps and the pepper strips both.
11. Nacho Dip Roll Ups
Halloween movie night, sorted. One batch makes 60 pieces, which covers a lot of couch.
Light cream cheese, salsa, chili powder, a little Worcestershire and shredded cheese get spread over Flatout light wraps, rolled up, chilled and sliced.
Two pieces for 1 Point, so pass the plate around.
12. Mini Corndog Muffins
A simple cornmeal batter in a mini muffin tin with a piece of hot dog pressed into each one. Ten minutes in a hot oven and you have 35 of them. Ketchup and mustard, obviously.
With regular hot dogs they’re 3 Points a muffin. The recipe suggests turkey hot dogs if you want to go lighter.
