These Spooky Spider Cookies are perfect for Halloween. They're also delicious, soft, and chewy peanut butter cookies with chocolate spiders that are so much fun! These are easy to make and great for a Halloween Party Dessert or after-school snack!
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Spider Cookies
Years ago we had a lot of fun making easy spider cookies from our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. This was my son Caleb piping the spiders on...
They were so cute and a lot of fun! Fast forward and Caleb is now 23 years old, and I have another 13-year-old to make Halloween spider cookies with.
So I wanted to change things up and try a new spider cookies recipe! These adorable peanut butter spider cookies hit the spot. Please be sure to hang around and check out all of my Halloween recipes here.
Why You'll Love Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
- Pantry Staples. The ingredients for this Halloween cookies recipe are basic staples you probably already have in your pantry (except for the malted milk balls).
- Easy and Fun. These are easy to make and kids love this fun Halloween treat!
- Delicious. Peanut Butter + Chocolate means you'll have a delicious cookie that is also a perfect Halloween dessert. For reference, they taste a lot like Classic Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies.
- Fun Activity to do with kids! This is an easy Halloween treat that kids can help you make. Just make sure they don't burn themselves on a hot cookie - but otherwise, they can help make the spookiest little spiders you've ever seen on a cookie by adding the Whoppers and maybe even some googly eyes.
- Everybody loves a homemade cookie. Especially soft peanut butter cookies. Need I say more?
Equipment
You likely already have everything you need to make this peanut butter spider cookies recipe.
- Large Bowl
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Electric Mixer (Hand Mixer)
- Cookie Scoop
- 9x13 Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Piping Bag or Ziploc bag
- Cooling Rack
Video
Ingredients
If you like to bake homemade cookies, you probably already have these simple ingredients in your pantry (except for the Whoppers)!
Cookie Batter
- Butter, melted. I use salted butter but unsalted butter would work just as well.
- Creamy peanut butter
- Dark brown sugar
- White granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
Topping
- Malted Milk Balls (or Reese's Miniatures)
- Chocolate chips, melted (milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips)
How to Make Spider Cookies
As far as easy recipes go, this spider cookie recipe is easy!
Brown Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies
I am not a huge fan of peanut butter (that would be my husband) but I do love peanut butter cookies with brown sugar and these are so, so good! This peanut butter cookie recipe is the best!
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Whisk together until combined and smooth.
- Then add in the eggs and vanilla extract, whisking again until the ingredients are incorporated.
- Pour in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold all these dry ingredients into the wet until a dough forms. The dough will not be that firm, due to the use of melted butter, but that is how it is supposed to be.
- Cover this bowl with plastic wrap or transfer to the plastic wrap, wrap and place the peanut butter cookie dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Scoop out medium-sized balls of cookie dough (see the pics and video for the cookie size), roll dough in your hand to make it round, and place on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from each other on the lined baking tray.
- Once all the cookie dough balls have been placed, press them slightly with your fingertips before baking in the oven for 13 minutes or until the edges of the peanut butter cookies are slightly golden brown.
Spider Peanut Butter Cookies
Here's where you learn how to make Halloween cookies because nothing is creepier than a spider... on a cookie 😉🕷
- As soon as you remove the yummy peanut butter cookies from the oven, take the malted milk balls and place two on the center of each cookie side by side. This is to create the spider’s body on the top of each cookie. Slightly press them down into the chewy peanut butter cookie base so they stick to the top of the cookies!
- Let these cookies cool for 5 minutes. You can leave them on the cookie sheet or move them to a wire rack to cool.
- While those cool, melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals in a small microwave-safe bowl, stirring in between, until smooth. You could also melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler.
- Transfer this melted chocolate into a piping bag and cut a small slit at the end.
- On cool cookies, pipe a small amount of the chocolate for the legs of the spiders coming out from each malted ball with the pastry bag. Two on one side and two on the other side for each malted milk ball, curving downwards.
- Repeat the spider legs on the other malted milk ball, curving the legs upward to finish the look of a spider.
- Grab a glass of milk and a warm cookie!
Variations for Spider Cookies
- Candy Eyes. Add small candy eyes to the malted milk balls to add even more character to these cute Halloween cookies. You can buy candy eyeballs at Walmart in the Halloween candy section or online here or here. Use a little melted chocolate to "glue" the candy eyes onto the Malted milk balls.
- Reese's. Don't have or don't like Whoppers (Malted Milk Balls)? Use Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for the spider bodies instead - they are the right size and are another delicious chocolate candy. Turn the mini Reese's Cups upside down for the spider body in the middle of each cookie. If you do this, you only need to use one mini peanut butter cup for the body of the spider and add four chocolate legs on each side.
- Different Legs. If you don't have piping bags, you can snip the corner off of a small ziplock bag and use that to pipe on the legs. Want to go even easier? Use a tube of black icing for the legs - you can usually grab black cookie icing on the baking aisle at your grocery store! Any way you make them, you still have spooky cookies!
Storage Directions
Baked spider cookies will remain fresh for up to three days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator. If freezing, aim to thaw and enjoy them within three months.
This means you don't have to bake Spider Cookies Halloween night; you can bake them ahead of time!
And you do want to make them for Halloween... these crinkly peanut butter cookies are the perfect treat for Halloween parties.
More Halloween & Cookie Recipes
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PrintRecipe
Halloween Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
- Total Time: 58 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
Description
These Spooky Spider Cookies are perfect for Halloween. They're also delicious, soft, and chewy peanut butter cookies with chocolate spiders that are so much fun! These are easy to make and great for a Halloween Party Dessert or after-school snack!
Ingredients
Cookie Batter
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup smooth peanut butter
- 1 ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Spider Topping
- Malted Milk Balls
- ¼ cup milk chocolate chips, melted
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Whisk together until combined and smooth.
- Then add in the eggs and vanilla extract, whisking again until the ingredients are incorporated.
- Pour in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold all these dry ingredients into the wet until a dough forms. The dough will not be that firm, due to the use of melted butter, but that is how it is supposed to be.
- Cover this bowl with plastic wrap or transfer to the plastic wrap, wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop out medium sized balls of cookie dough, roll in your hand to make it evenly round and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart from each other.
- Once all the cookie dough balls have been place, press them slightly with your fingertips before baking in the oven for 13 minutes or until the edges of the peanut butter cookies are slightly golden.
- As soon as you remove the cookies out of the oven, take the malted milk balls and place two in the center of each cookie side by side. This is to create the spider’s body.
- Let these cookies cool for 5 minutes.
- While those cool, melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth.
- Transfer this melted chocolate into a piping bag and cut a small slit at the end.
- Create spider 4 legs coming out from each malted ball with the piping bag. 2 on one side and 2 on the other, curving downwards.
- Repeat the legs on the other malted milk ball, curving the legs upward to finish the look of a spider.
- Serve and enjoy these cookies!
- Prep Time: 15
- Chill Time: 30
- Cook Time: 13
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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