Chocolate

To crack the spices, place in a resealable plastic bag and tap with a rolling pin.

A chocolaty, coffee-cake-like treat that would be terrific for dessert, afternoon tea, or brunch.

Chop your favorite nuts and dried fruit to fill this tart. If desired, use toasted coconut or chopped crystallized ginger instead of toffee bits for the garnish.

Kate is an avid home baker, but it took her a while to figure out egg- and dairy-free desserts. The cake and the oatmeal bars are two of her favorite vegan treats.

The killer combination of coconut, almonds, and milk chocolate makes for a delectable candy bar. One of the most iconic of American candies, the Almond Joy, is famous for its creamy coconut filling topped with almonds and covered in milk chocolate. Its sibling, the Mounds bar, has the same coconut center but no almonds. Although the recipes for these two candies are top secret, it's possible to make wonderfully coconutty chocolate candies in your own home. History: The Almond Joy was invented in 1946 by the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company in Connecticut. The Mounds bar was the original version of the candy, premiering in 1921. Peter Paul used the unusual strategy of creating two very similar candies and advertising them as competing versions, encouraging consumers to pick a favorite. This tactic worked: Almond Joy and Mounds became two of the best-selling candies in the 1920s. Serving Suggestions: Trick-or-treaters will be delighted to find these candies in the Halloween candy bag. Wrap them in foil or place them in candy cups. Candy-Making Notes: You can eliminate the almonds and cover the coconut centers with dark chocolate. Better yet, make both versions and give your guests a pleasant dilemna of which to choose.

Orange-flavored liqueur and orange peel add a citrusy note to this very tender cake. Candied blood oranges keep the citrus theme going—and make for a lovely garnish.

A bittersweet chocolate ganache is spread in the bottom of the crust and is also piped on top of the nutty caramel filling.

These thin, elegant cookies get their flavor from dried cranberries and homemade candied lemon peel. Because the lemon peel needs to dry overnight, be sure to begin this recipe one day ahead.

In this festive treat, the shortbread base is topped with dark chocolate, chopped peppermint candies, and a drizzle of white chocolate. Cutting the cookies into irregular pieces makes for a fun presentation.

In name alone, a devil's food cake is an obvious choice for a Halloween dessert. This one will far exceed your expectations of deep chocolaty naughtiness hidden under a fluff of espresso-tinged frosting. (If your trick-or-treaters are too young to embrace the slightly adult bitterness the coffee flavor adds, feel free to substitute a couple of teaspoons of good old vanilla extract.) Have some fun with a very tasty spiderweb—you'll want to eat it rather than shriek and brush it off.

Chocolate and pears make an excellent combination. Here, bittersweet chocolate and sweet pears meld together to form the perfect balance. For this recipe, you can either take a rustic approach and toss the pears haphazardly into the pan or opt for a more elegant look by arranging the pears in concentric circles. Look for a good dark chocolate, which is not the same as unsweetened chocolate. Also, there are two kinds of unsweetened cocoa on the market; be sure to use unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, not natural cocoa. When combined with baking soda, natural cocoa can impart a bitter taste to baked goods and cause them to rise too much.

This dressed-up rendition of a classic has a supremely satisfying filling.

Although trends come and go, chocolate mousse never fails to impress. Not only does it manage to convey both indulgence and comfort, it couldn't be simpler to make. This version is a true classic mousse in that the eggs are not cooked. You'll find it unbelievably smooth and voluptuous.

Forget milk—stout is the perfect pairing for this cake. Serve glasses of the same brew you used in the cake batter. Take it up a notch by adding a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream to the beer for a grown-up float.

More fun with pretzels and melted chocolate! Like the pretzel lollipop ghosts, these are a tasty mix of sweet and salty. With the white chocolate coating on them, they are uniformly charming. For the best effect, heap and jumble the little bones in a bowl rather than laying them on a plate. (Although I call for white chips, this is one place where lower grade white "coating" chocolate or bark is so easy to work with that it might be worth the trade-off in taste.)

Use miniature M&Ms (green are fun) to make the irises in these monster eyes and begin with very soft butter, or the ingredients will be difficult to blend. Mound the eyeballs into a bowl for serving, or lay them out on a tray in row after unblinking row.