The 10 Best Halloween Candy And Cheese Pairings, According To A Cheesemonger

Nope, this isn't a trick — cheese and candy are a perfect match together, just like the best couples costumes this Halloween season. As long as you can steal a few pieces from your kids' trick-or-treating stash, you can elevate classic Halloween candy by pairing them with artisan cheeses. Currently working as a full-time accredited Certified Cheese Professional in the food retail industry, my infatuation with cheese and building interesting pairings is a commitment that stretches the entire span of the year, and that includes holidays. As the skilled expert for this article with years of recipe development experience gained from working as both a professional food writer and pastry cook, I'm excited to serve you up 10 of my favorite (and actually tasty, I promise!) pairings.

If you need more convincing, I'll explain why the combination of each festive fall match works so well together. Once you read through my recommendations, you won't be spooked out for long. While unexpected, the full range of candies — not just chocolate — actually work well with cheese as long as you have the right pairing strategy. Grab your favorite boards and broomsticks, and let's have something good to eat. There might not be smelly feet ... but there will be some funky cheese.

Mimolette is certainly no stranger to Halloween. A French cow's milk cheese that's shaped like a small cannonball with a tough, craggy rind and a brilliantly orange interior paste, hard-aged Mimolette embodies all the best fall fashions. Even producers of the cheese are in on the fun — during the fall months, they usually send off each wheel packaged with assorted jack-o'-lantern facial stickers to decorate the cut wheel and pieces.

Tasting like a cross between a Gouda and a cheddar, the cheese's sharp, fruity notes are balanced with a strong and salty finish. With that kind of tasting profile, Mimolette pairs perfectly with candy corn, that strangely satisfying Halloween classic. Candy corn's fondant-like texture and honeyed, marshmallow-y taste matches so well with the saltier cheese. Not only are they delicious paired up, but they make a very cute match aesthetically with their bold color combo of orange, white, and yellow; any fall cheese board will look particularly on-theme when these two are proudly presented together.

Whoppers: yum or yuck? These crunchy balls with a malted milk center and thin chocolate coating have as many foes as friends. I'm hoping I can win over a few more, but understandably not all, hearts with this unique pairing idea. With just a subtle hint of that characteristic goat, barnyard flavor profile, any goat Gouda selection will be a successful hit with the toasted, roasted sweetness of a Whopper.

Much like cow's milk Gouda, goat Gouda can range in age and texture depending on the producer's intentions. Wheels aged for just a few weeks like Artikaas Youngsters Goat Gouda will create a cheese with a fudgy, semi-firm texture and a milky sweetness. More mature wheels like Cypress Grove Midnight Moon — which is aged for six months or more — will have a firmer, drier paste with a more pronounced saltiness and caramelization. You can't go wrong with any choice when paired with a Whopper, so the decision is yours if you prefer a younger versus an older goat Gouda.

The intention of this pairing is to match strength levels, uniting two bold personalities to yield a beautiful masterpiece that blends robust funk with salty peanut butter. Wash-rind cheeses are the quintessential stinky/funky/smelly cheese category, and most products within this group share a similar foundational production process: routinely washed in a brine solution over a period of time, the exterior develops into a sticky, reddish exterior (a rind that's edible, contrary to popular assumptions). It encourages microbial growth during the aging process, causing the cheese's proteins to break down the interior into a soft, gooey paste. The resulting flavors are expansive and magnanimous, ranging from tasting notes like roasted broccoli and beef stew to melted butter, yeasty bread, and roasted nuts. And the smell? Pure pungency.

For the most successful pairing, a bolder candy is necessary here. That's why a salty, nutty, textural, and chocolaty candy like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is my top pick to fight fire with fire. Because a common pairing suggestion with wash-rind cheese is peanuts, munching on a Reese's with a smear of a cheese like Goat Rodeo Bamboozle or Tulip Tree Creamery Foxglove makes sense. My recommendation is to cut even wedges of the Reese's so you can enjoy all the contrasts of the creamier interior with the solid chocolate edge as you enjoy the pairing.

The crisp wafer and sweet milk chocolate of a Hershey Kit Kat bar plays nicely with a range of cheddar options, from mild and fudgy to acidic and crumbly. Cheddar's overall tanginess and solid structure is the best base for this candy, as the lighter, delicate nature of a Kit Kat bar helps balance and tone down the louder temperament of the cheese. Opposites most definitely attract in this case.

Because cheddar can vary immensely, it would be a fun idea to host a tasting party and choose a small variety (different ages, styles, producers) to see what pairing you and your invited guests like best. Maybe everyone will be partial to a sweeter, creamier, and younger cheddar like Grafton Village 1 Year Cheddar Bar. I particularly favor the candy with the more complex, more savory notes of a slightly drier-aged clothbound cheddar like Jasper Hill Farm Cabot Clothbound Cheddar or Keen's Cheddar.

For both candy devotees and cheese connoisseurs, Gouda is an easy option to pair with many kinds of Halloween treats. However, you have to be a little discerning with what style of Gouda you purchase. Avoid a flavored Gouda, like smoked or chili pepper, in order to prevent a cacophony of flavors crashing the pairing party. Ideally, you should use a plain Gouda with some age to it for the best pairing. A hard-aged Gouda has a more pronounced sweet-and-salty flavor with pleasing notes of caramel, butterscotch, and toffee that all pair perfectly with assorted candies and chocolates. An excellent buying choice would be a Gouda that is aged at least 18 months, but a 36-month aged Gouda like Roomano Extra Aged Gouda will give you the most exciting and intense tasting experience.

Among the entire crew of Halloween candy, there's something special about the flavor and texture combination of a Three Musketeers bar paired with a piece of Gouda. Coated in a thin layer of milk chocolate, the soft and fluffy whipped nougat center is a heavenly contrast to the firm, granular cheese. Another cool textural bonus against the cloud-like filling of the candy is when you bite into bits of tyrosine in the Gouda — crystalline flecks of denatured proteins that create a pleasing crunch.

Fresh chèvre has a bright and brilliant tang. It's a unique, out-of-the-box option to serve on your next charcuterie board to balance other cheeses, like brie and cheddar. This young goat's milk cheese might seem complicated to match with a candy, but it's not impossible. As long as there are some Sour Patch Kids spreading their mischief in the fromagerie, chèvre can also get in on the action this Halloween. When you break down the components of both the candy and cheese, they make sense when they're in cahoots together — just be sure you choose a fresh chèvre that isn't flavored, since those additional ingredients will be a confusing mix with the candy (and stick to plain, please).

The mouth-puckering acidity of the gummies echoes the lemony notes in a fresh chèvre, but the abrasive characters of both won't be an overwhelming hit to the tastebuds. Here's why: the overall sourness of the tasting experience is tamed not only by the candy's sugar coating and fruity flavors, but also by the creamier texture of the goat's milk cheese. If you enjoy the popular appetizer dish of dates stuffed with chèvre, you'll have a small "a-ha" moment when you realize the chewy texture of the Sour Patch Kids is not too far off from that of a date.

Sheep's milk Manchego is the archetypal Spanish sweetheart on a cheeseboard, a grassy option with a distinctly salty sharpness that makes the back of your tongue tingle a bit in the best way possible. As a complementary pairing on a board, Manchego is often served with another Spanish favorite, Marcona almonds. To playfully mimic this classic accompaniment, I enjoy pairing Manchego with an Almond Joy. With a dual combo of both almonds and coconut, there is plenty of nuttiness in the candy bar that works well with the strong sheep's milk flavor of the cheese.

For an educational experience — and as long as your cheese shop or grocery store sells the same brand of Manchego in different ages — host a vertical cheese tasting along with the candy pairing. This style of tasting showcases the same cheese aged for different lengths of time. There is a noticeable difference between a 3-month and a 12-month wheel, and each one will unlock varying tasting notes with the candy pairing. As the youngest, a typical 3-month Manchego's creamier texture and milkier taste will beautifully align with the soft and chewy coconut filling, while a more aged 12-month Manchego's stronger gaminess and nuttiness will echo the flavor of the almond in the candy.

Chocolate and blue cheese? Oh, you bet. Twix and Stilton? Absolutely genius. There are many unexpected uses for blue cheese, and serving this stinky fella with a sweet accompaniment as a necessary equalizer is one of my personal favorites. Salty, smelly blue cheese craves some form of a counterbalance as a pairing partner. Oftentimes, this is typically a piece of fresh or dried fruit, a jammy compote, or a syrupy dessert beverage like Port wine or Sauternes (Or ... chocolate).

A denser, fudgier blue cheese like Stilton is the ideal choice for a chocolate candy option. Compared to other acidic, abrasive, and moist blue cheese styles like Roquefort or Buttermilk Blue, Stilton is a less abrasive and mellower selection with hints of sweet nuttiness. When served with Stilton, the caramel and milk chocolate of a Twix bar effortlessly creates that beloved sweet-and-salty combination, while the candy's crisp cookie center offers a crunchy textural contrast to the thick paste of the cheese. As with any blue cheese, a little goes a long way to make a big tasting impact — go easy on the serving size.

Pudgy, nearly melt-in-your-mouth soft-ripened cheeses are an indulgent luxury to consume. With a richly buttery interior and soft, velvety rind, they're definitely one of the most decadent cheeses to serve on a board. These luscious creations are often paired with acidic jams and jellies, so I found it natural to replace the spread with a fruit-forward candy like Skittles. The texture of the candy — an initially crunchy of the candy coating, which quickly gives way to a chewy center — is definitely a winner paired with the creamy cheese. Have a choose-your-own-adventure moment by picking out different combinations of the flavors/scents of Skittles to taste with each bite. Obsessed with freeze-dried candy? The freeze-dried version of Skittles would be a light and crisp alternative.

For the purpose of this pairing, opt for a milder selection that is not excessively ripe or too mushroomy in scent and flavor. A milder crowd-pleaser such as a young brie is a smart selection to purchase. You can also buy a double-cream like Fromage D'Affinois or triple-cream cheese like Brillat-Savarin, options that include extra cream to yield a higher butterfat content. Again, make sure they aren't too old and ammoniated, as you want a mild and milky option to pair with the candy to avoid any unpleasant tasting notes.

Also popularly known as Brunost or brown cheese, Gjetost is a mixed-milk cheese (usually cow and goat milk in addition to whey) with a deeply caramelized, butterscotch-y taste and thick, pasty texture. Due to the careful heating process to make the cheese, the sugar present in the milk gradually caramelizes, creating the toffee-like color and taste. It's a Norwegian snacking staple, most often served thinly sliced on toasted bread or crackers. In the twisted mind of a Halloween fanatic such as myself, though, it also makes the perfect option for a chocolate candy pairing.

To counteract the super dense and fudgy texture, a chocolate with a crunchy candy coating and solid center like M&M's is an ideal choice. Since Brunost has a subtly savory quality to it, as the caramelized flavor yields to nuances of deeply toasted nuts, all of the flavors between the cheese and candy play together beautifully without any risk of clashing or overwhelming each other. You pretty much create your own fusion of Peanut/Caramel M&M's, a brilliant trick that's definitely a treat.