Yield: 12 spider cookies // Total Time: 40 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.

Easy, spooky and delicious Halloween cookies.

halloween peanut butter blossoms

You know those cute Christmas cookies that have a Hershey’s Kiss in the center of them? Today we’re taking those and making a Halloween version! They start with a dark chocolate peanut butter cookie base that’s *so* soft and chewy. They’re made with black cocoa powder to make them extra dark and spooky. Then, they’re topped with two whoppers and chocolate candy legs to make a spider. They’re delicious, easy to make, and the perfect cookie for a Halloween party!

recipe tips

weigh your ingredients

Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient which can give you some undesirable results. This kitchen scale is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out! If you don’t have access to a scale, here is the best way to measure flour: fluff up the flour with a fork, then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup, then use as directed.

mix the dough carefully

When you’re mixing in your flour, you’ll want to make sure you only mix just until that last streak of flour disappears in the dough. Otherwise, you run the risk of overmixing the dough which will make the cookies more tough and chewy.

under bake for perfect cookies

This is one of the best tips for making perfect cookies. Cookies will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheet after being taken out of the oven, so if you take them out when they look completely done, they will be over-baked. You can’t really tell if these cookies have golden brown edges, but, these are perfectly done around 8-10 minutes (9 for me). They will still be quite soft, which will let the whoppers be easily pushed into them after baking.

bloom your cocoa powder

The secret to getting more chocolate flavor into your chocolate bakes? Bloom your cocoa powder! Blooming your cocoa powder just means that you’re mixing the cocoa with a hot liquid. In these spider cookies, we’re going to achieve that by mixing the black cocoa powder directly with the hot melted butter. Doing so releases the cocoa powder particles from a very thin membrane on them, exposing cocoa solids and bringing out more flavor. It’s a super simple way to add more flavor into your chocolate bakes!

work fast, then chill –

Once these cookies come out of the oven, it’s go time! Immediately start pressing two whoppers in the middle of each cookie. If you wait any longer, the cookies will firm up and you won’t be able to press the candy in that well. Once each cookie is decorated, immediately put the cookies in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes, just until the cookies are room temperature. This ensures that your chocolate won’t melt into a puddle in the cookie (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course, but, it’s not the desired effect!)

ingredients and substitutions

For the chocolate peanut butter blossoms:

All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.

Baking soda: for helping the cookies rise and giving them crisp edges.

Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies

Black cocoa powder. Makes these the perfect color for Halloween! Here is the black cocoa powder I use.

Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. I highly recommend splurging a little and using European style butter here for the best flavor.

Creamy peanut butter: for flavor, texture & sweetness. I’m a big fan of natural peanut butter, but unfortunately that won’t work in this recipe. For baking, you’re going to want to make sure you have thick creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy’s.

Dark brown sugar: for sweetness, flavor and for moisture. I do highly recommend using dark brown sugar because it helps make the cookies super soft and chewy and gives more molasses flavor. However, in a pinch you can substitute in light brown sugar.

Egg: for binding and richness.

Vanilla: for flavor.

Whoppers: you’ll need 24 whoppers to make the spider bodies for these 12 cookies.

For the coating:

Granulated sugar: you can make these without the sugar coating, but I personally like the effect and texture.

how to make halloween spider cookies

Here’s a little look into the process of making these spider cookies. The full recipe is at the end of this blog post!

spider cookies q&a

can I double this recipe?

Of course! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe to make 24 delicious cookies. I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.

can I make these cookies ahead of time?

Definitely! Cookie dough only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge a little bit before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again!

a note on oven temperature

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and aren’t always at the temperature they claim to be at. I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!

Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.