Lovely little arcade game.
The difficulty comes a bit to a halt once you master the basic movement, adding more variations of crim spirits throughout the score progression might make that more challenging. (like a spirit that circles around ingredients, one that covers the crafting zone, or one that zigzags across the field)
In terms of player choice when crafting, I could imagine something like Overcooked's delivery working really well, with multiple crafting spots (with their own recipes), and a trash bin if you end up messing up the collection. Just some ideas in case you plan to continue this.