Halloween Cookies

Let's get spooky with these fun and totally delicious chocolate chip Halloween Cookies featuring festive spiders, sprinkles, and candy eyeballs galore!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Halloween Cookies, Spider Cookies

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 12

Decorating Time 20

Total Time 52

Servings cookies

Calories 280kcal

Author Jenn Laughlin - Peas and Crayons

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour (380 grams)
1 TBSP corn starch
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 sticks unsalted butter (247 grams)
½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar (247 grams)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips or 2 cups regular

FOR DECORATING

10-16 oz milk chocolate melting wafers or extra if desired
halloween nonpareil sprinkles
chocolate jimmies sprinkles
candy eyeballs

Instructions

PREP + MEASURE

Set out 2 sticks of butter and 2 eggs to soften to room temperature. Soften butter just until you are able to leave a light indentation with your finger, but not so softened that it’s shiny/greasy/melted.
For the flour and sugar, weigh each in grams grams with a kitchen scale for speedy and accurate results. No scale? Measure the flour via spoon and sweep method: Fluff the flour with a spoon then gently sprinkle spoonfuls into a dry measuring cup until a little over-full. Then use a butter knife to scrape the excess flour so its level with the top edge of the measuring cup. Packing the four into the cup or using the measuring cup to scoop itself full of flour will make the cookies dry/crumbly instead of tender and chewy.
Measure out remaining ingredients.
In a medium bowl combine flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Mix with a metal whisk.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream together butter with brown and granulated sugar for approx. 2 minutes until creamy.
Add vanilla and eggs and beat for an additional 30-40 seconds.
Gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips and mix on lowest setting for just a few seconds to evenly distribute throughout the dough.

BAKE THE COOKIES

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Use a large 3 TBSP cookie scoop to portion out dough.
Arranged spaced on parchment paper (cookies will be approx. 3.5-4 inches) and bake (in batches) on the center rack for 11-13 minutes per batch or until edges are golden and the center of the cookie has begun to set.
For the spider cookies, PRESS 2-3 CHOCOLATE WAFERS (flat side up) into each cookie while they're still on the warm baking sheet. The warmth of the cookies will slightly melt the wafers so you can then stick the sprinkle legs and candy eyeballs into each one to make a spooky spider. For extra oomph, add a pinch of halloween nonpareil sprinkles to each spider.
Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE DIPPED COOKIES

Once cookies have fully cooled, melt remaining chocolate wafers in a microwave safe bowl on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring between intervals until melted and smooth.
Dip the top half of each cookie in chocolate then transfer to cooled, rimmed baking sheet and decorate with sprinkles right away while the chocolate is still wet. Allow to cool and set. You can pop them in a fridge for 10 minutes if you need them to set faster.

Notes

If making smaller cookies with less than 3 TBSP dough each, adjust bake time as needed. 1.5 TBSP cookies will need to be checked for doneness around the 9 minute mark.

Leftover baked cookies are chewy and delicious! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. Enjoy!

MAKE AHEAD COOKIE DOUGH: Place prepared dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap and wrap securely *OR* place in an airtight container with a lid. Refrigerate dough for 1-3 days until you're read to get your bake on.

Nutrition Facts below are estimated using an online recipe nutrition calculator. Adjust as needed based on choice of chocolate dipped or spider cookies and enjoy!

Nutrition