We've all seen the recipes on Pinterest: flawlessly baked cookies, picture-perfect animal-shaped treats. But do the recipes live up to the pictures? We recreated several Halloween Pinterest recipes in order to determine whether or not they actually worked. Here are our results.

Candy Corn Pretzel Hugs

candy, chocolate, sweet, cream
Julia Gilman

These were a sweet treat and easy to make. The only issue was placing the candy corn on the pretzels after they baked in the oven. You need to move quickly during this step, so make sure you have helpers. After the pretzels are finished, refrigerate them to allow the chocolate to cool.

Our pictures didn't turn out as well as the Pinterest ones because the chocolate began hardening as we tried to place the candy corn on top of it, causing some pieces to appear lopsided. Besides that, we recommend trying this recipe out because they taste great and require minimal prep time.

Mini Chocolate Bat Bites

chocolate, sweet, candy, cookie, goody, cake, pastry, cream
Julia Gilman

These bats were also easy to make and look adorable. The Oreos can be hard to evenly break in half, so you may end up with some crumbled pieces that you can't use. However, they are easy to stick on the bats with a touch of frosting. The recipe calls for cream cheese frosting, but it doesn't really make a difference.

We chose not to buy candy eyes because they were $4 for a small pack, but you can make your own candy eyes with different colored frosting, or just leave the eyes out. In addition to the pretzel hugs, these bats also work well as a simple treat for a Halloween party.

Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

chocolate, brownie, caramel
Julia Gilman

These cookies taste as good as they look, especially right out of the oven when the caramel is still melted. We did not buy the right kind of cocoa so our cookies didn't turn out as dark as the Pinterest recipe. Although we followed the recipe exactly with the exception of the dark cocoa, their cookies looked thicker than ours.

Otherwise, these salted caramel delights were a perfect combination of salty and sweet. Make sure to add sea salt on top to gain that balance. While the prep time is longer for these cookies than for the rest of the recipes we tried, they are sure to win over all your guests.

Graveyard Pudding

cereal, vegetable
Julia Gilman

We expanded on the original Pinterest recipe by adding more candy decorations and making the pudding in a baking tray rather than in cups. This way, we were able to incorporate more candy decorations, including Milano cookies as gravestones. In the tray, you can eat the pudding with a spoon, or use the cookies to dip in the pudding. 

The steps for this recipe were incredibly easy to follow—you can't go wrong with this one. Feel free to add other candy toppings of your choice to create your own personalized graveyard.

Pumpkin Krispies

rice, sweet, risotto, chocolate
Julia Gilman

These pumpkins were a twist on the classic Rice Krispies and are perfect for the upcoming holiday. Once the Rice Krispies are cool enough to touch, you have to move fairly quickly in order to form them into balls before they become too cool to effectively roll.

We tried adding candy toppings to the pumpkins as shown in the Pinterest picture but thought they were too much, so we removed them and stuck with the orange krispies and Tootsie Roll toppings. There were minimal issues involved with the making of these pumpkins and they turned out just like the Pinterest ones.

While Pinterest pictures can be deceiving, overall, we experienced good results from the recipes we tried. Our pictures didn't turn out quite as flawless as the ones online, but the Halloween treats we made still tasted amazing. Many of these are simple to make, whether you're baking for your friends or a Halloween party, and will guarantee good results.