This is Halloween, this is Halloween! These spider cookies are so cute and easy to make for a festive dessert! Just take your favorite basic cookie recipe and add some malted chocolate milk balls and chocolate icing to create these fun spiders. You can also do a peanut butter cookie base if you’d like to really compliment the chocolate, or keep it a classic sugar cookie base to make it more friendly for any trick-or-treaters that may have peanut allergies. So cute and simple and the perfect treats for this Halloweekend!
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (100g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 oz semi-sweet chocolate If you'd prefer, you can also use squeezable chocolate icing instead of melted chocolate
- white cake decorating gel
- 5 oz Whopper malted milk balls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt, and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and egg, and beat on medium-high speed until combined, scraping down the sides as necessary. Once combined, add the peanut butter and again mix until combined. Once all the wet ingredients are fully combined, reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients until a uniform cookie dough forms.
- Use a spoon and scoop out ~1 tbsp of dough and roll into a 1 inch ball and place on the prepped baking sheets. Leave about 1 inch of space between each cookie. These won't spread too much, so if you'd like a wider, flatter cookie, gently press them down a bit with your fingers before they go in the oven. You will fill ~1 1/2 baking sheets, so don't fret if you've only got a few cookies on the second sheet. Once ready, bake the cookies for ~15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The cookies are done when the tops are dry and the bottoms are starting to brown; be careful, as these can burn quickly.
- While the cookies are baking, take a sharp knife and carefully slice the Whoppers in half. You can use whole Whoppers if you prefer, but I like the shallower look of semi-spheres for the spider body and head. Once the cookies are done, remove from the oven and immediately press two Whopper halves into the cookie for the spider's head and body while the cookie is still soft. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cookies have cooled, use the white decorating gel to add eyes (without pupils) to all the spiders. For the pupils and the legs, add the 2 oz of chocolate to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between each time. Once the chocolate has melted, allow it to cool a bit in the bowl so it thickens up a bit, but is still soft enough to pipe. Spoon the chocolate into a piping bag and cut a very small piece off the tip; you don't want too thick of a bead of chocolate or the eyes will be difficult to decorate. Gently add a little dab of chocolate to the centers of each eye for the pupils, and 4 legs on each side of the spider as well.
- Allow the chocolate to cool completely and solidify, and serve!
- Enjoy, and happy Halloween!
