Scare up some Halloween fun with homemade graham crackers, lightly flavored with pumpkin and spices, decorated with royal icing and black candy chips.
Happy Halloween! For months I’ve been sharing snacks I made for my son Liam’s daycare Snack Share. Now that he’s moved into the transitional preschool room, parents still take turns sending snacks each week, and we’re often asked to provide treats for holidays like Halloween.
The school requests healthier options when possible, which is understandable but a little challenging for a baker. Many kid-friendly Halloween ideas online are decorated cookies or cupcakes, but you can decorate other foods just as easily. These pumpkin graham crackers strike a nice balance — they use whole wheat flour and pumpkin for fiber and vitamins, and the added sugar and fat are minimal compared with many baked treats.
The crackers are simple to make, and decorating them is beginner-friendly. For the mummy wrap effect, pipe short, overlapping lines across each cracker. Apply even pressure while piping and release before pulling the tip away to leave clean lines. For eyes, I used black candy chip sprinkles, but you can use small candy eyeballs, mini M&Ms, or melt black candy melts and pipe tiny dots. A note: popular candy eyes sell out quickly before Halloween, so plan ahead.
Pumpkin Graham Cracker Mummies
36 (3-inch) crackers
Ingredients
For the crackers
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoon pumpkin puree, not pie filling
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon molasses
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon allspice
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- ¾ cups all-purpose flour
For the icing mummy wrappings and eyes
- 8 ounces confectioners sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon meringue powder
- 2 ½ warm water
- Wilton Candy Chip Sprinkles (or Wilton Candy Eyes, or other small, round brown or black candies, or a handful black candy melts, melted)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, pumpkin, egg, and sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in the honey and molasses.
- Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, spices and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix on low until combined. The dough should form a ball and not be sticky. If sticky, add more whole wheat flour, ¼ cup at a time, until manageable.
- Scrape the dough onto plastic wrap, cover tightly and chill at least one hour, up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, then divide into two pieces.
- Dust a work surface with flour and roll one piece to 1/8-inch thickness. Use a floured gingerbread man cutter to cut crackers. Transfer to the sheet and combine scraps into a disc.
- Bake for 10 minutes. While the first sheet bakes, roll and cut the second piece. Continue until all dough is used. Transfer baked crackers to a wire rack to cool.
- Store cooled crackers in a sealed zip-top bag until ready to decorate.
- Make the icing: place confectioners sugar, meringue powder and water in a mixer bowl. Mix with the paddle attachment on medium speed for about 7 minutes.
- Scrape icing into a piping bag fitted with a #45 tip. Pipe back-and-forth lines across each cracker to resemble mummy wrappings. Ice three or four crackers at a time, then press two black candy chip sprinkles into the head area for eyes—don’t wait until all crackers are iced, or the icing will set and the eyes won’t stick.
- Alternatively, melt black candy melts, pipe two dots for eyes with a small tip, let the crackers sit at room temperature about an hour to set, then store in a zip-top bag.
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Graham cracker recipe slightly adapted from Cupcake Project.
