Upgrade Halloween Candy Into A Classic No-Bake Dessert Bursting With Sweetness

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Preparing for fall often involves stocking up on candy for Halloween trick-or-treaters. If you find yourself with a surplus of sweets, you can easily prevent food waste and repurpose leftover candy by turning it into a delightful no-bake dessert. Tasting Table's no-bake Halloween candy cheesecake recipe presents a perfect way to make the most of your autumnal bounty.

A typical no-bake cheesecake calls for creating a graham cracker crust as your base layer and topping it with a cream cheese and whipped cream filling before placing the dessert in the fridge to set. For this Halloween candy cheesecake, you'll mix crushed up Oreos or a similar cookie with melted butter to make the crust. The primary ingredients for your filling are three blocks of cream cheese and a pint of heavy cream, plus some yummy candy additions. You'll add a layer of Reese's peanut butter cups on top of the crust, and you'll also melt a small package of caramels to swirl with the filling, giving this no-bake dessert more of a Halloween-inspired taste and texture.

After assembling the cheesecake and chilling it in the fridge, add as much or as little candy as you like for a festive topping. With so many classic Halloween candies to choose from, you can use this Tasting Table recipe as a jumping-off point to get creative with other candy combinations.

Regular Oreos will work just fine for the crust of this no-bake dessert, but if you want to give your cheesecake more seasonal vibes, use Halloween Green and Orange Creme Oreos. For a lighter-looking and tasting crust, try Golden Oreos instead. Though this dessert is meant to be a no-bake-style dish, consider preparing a crust using baked Pillsbury Halloween Shape Sugar Cookies decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, or spooky cats to make your holiday cheesecake extra festive and sweet.

If you'd prefer to streamline this candy-filled treat, use a tub of Philadelphia no-bake cheesecake filling rather than mixing up your own. Swap the soft caramel swirl for melted candy corn to make a more vibrant filling. Be sure to save extra, unmelted candies to use as a decorative topping.

Use crushed Halloween candies or keep them whole to design a frightfully delightful scene atop your no-bake dessert. Gummy worms add a fun texture to this cheesecake, as do miniature marshmallows or chopped-up candy bars like Snickers, Twix, or Butterfingers. Pluck out the little pumpkins from a bag of Brach's Autumn Mix, and dot them along the edge of your cheesecake to really stay on theme. This sweet treat is great for sharing at autumnal gatherings and more.

Check out our no-bake Halloween candy cheesecake recipe video on Tasting Table's YouTube channel: