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If you’re looking for a fun and easy recipe for Halloween cookies, these chocolate cookies coated in cobwebs are it!
Halloween is the perfect time to play around and have fun with your food!
Whether it’s horrific foods (for example, Murder Cake!), gross foods (like Bloody Eyeball Sangria Cocktails – or Mocktails), creepy foods (such as Bloody Halloween Cupcakes), or spooky foods (hello, Swampy Halloween Deviled Eggs). This is a great food holiday!
This year I’m sharing Halloween cookies: black cookies coated in cobwebs and spider eggs! We use black cocoa powder for the deepest, darkest shade. Melted marshmallow stretched haphazardly over the cookies stands in for cobwebs. And black sprinkles look like spider eggs and bits of twigs and dirt.
They’re absolutely disgusting, which means they’re great for Halloween!
But they’re also delicious. The black cocoa powder gives these cookies a flavor similar to Oreo cookies. Except they’re not crispy like Oreos; instead, these cookies are soft and chewy.
And if you (and/or your kiddos) are Harry Potter fans, these cookies would be great for a Harry Potter movie night or themed party. Remember the forest scene with Harry, Ron, Aragog, and all the spiders?!
Also, if you need Halloween cookie ideas for a classroom party, this is perfect!
Creepy Cobweb Halloween Cookies Recipe
Chocolate Halloween Cookie Ingredients with Black Cocoa
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas. For the full recipe (including ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Unsalted butter – softened but not fully melted
- Light brown sugar – we use light brown sugar instead of granulated white sugar because it helps make chewy chocolate cookies
- Egg – a binder
- Vanilla – for depth of flavor
- Flour – use all-purpose flour
- Black cocoa powder – we want our Halloween cookies as close to black as possible, and black cocoa powder is perfect; if you can’t find it at your local grocery store or baking supply store, you can get black cocoa powder on Amazon
- Baking powder – the leavening agent
- Salt – a natural flavor enhancer
- Instant espresso powder – this is optional; it helps pull out the chocolate flavor notes
- Marshmallows – you can use regular or mini marshmallows for this recipe; we melt the marshmallows and stretch the melted candy across the cookies to look like cobwebs or spider webs
- Black sprinkles – I like to use a black sprinkle mix that has jimmies, nonpareils, and larger candy balls because I think it almost looks like spider eggs and pieces of dirt (which makes these cookies feel even more perfect for Halloween!); I bought my sprinkle mix a while ago and I don’t see it for sale anymore, but this black sprinkle mix on Amazon looks like it has all the same components
- Nonstick cooking spray – or butter or coconut oil (to grease your hands)
How to Make Halloween Cookies
Step 1: Make the Cookie Dough
- Add the butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla to a large bowl.
- Stir to combine (or use a hand-held electric mixer to beat together).
- Add the flour, black cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and instant espresso powder to the butter mixture.
- Stir or beat until combined (the dough will be thick).
Step 2: Scoop the Dough, Bake, and Decorate
- Use a 1.5-tablespoon scoop to measure out the dough. Arrange the dough balls on 2 large baking trays.
- Bake until the cookies are set and golden on the bottom, about 11 to 13 minutes at 350F. Cool completely.
- Once the cookies are cool, melt the marshmallows in the microwave or a double boiler. If you’re melting them in the microwave, heat them until melted in 15-second intervals, stirring between each interval. Let the melted marshmallow cool just until it’s not too hot to handle. Grease your hands, grab a small piece of marshmallow, stretch it out into strands, and wrap the strands around each cookie to look like cobwebs.
- Top with black sprinkles.
Storage
Before you spread the marshmallow “cobwebs” on top, you can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
After adding the marshmallow strands, store these cookies in a single layer for up 2 days. The marshmallow will stay very sticky, so I recommend storing them in a single layer on a large baking tray (and not double stacking!).
Halloween Cookies Recipe FAQs
What Are Drop Cookies?
Drop cookies are a type of cookie where the dough is scooped and dropped onto a baking tray. This kind of cookie is very easy to make because the dough doesn’t have to be rolled out.
This recipe for Halloween cookies is a type of drop cookie!
What is Black Cocoa Powder?
Black cocoa powder isn’t the same as regular Dutch-processed cocoa powder, “natural” cocoa powder (i.e., non-Dutch-processed cocoa powder), “special dark” cocoa powder, or cacao powder.
Black cocoa powder is its own thing! It’s a type of cocoa powder that is ultra Dutch-processed. This means it’s treated with an alkaline solution to reduce its acidity.
As a result, black cocoa powder has a much less bitter and more smooth flavor that’s almost a bit flat. I find the flavor of natural cocoa powder (rather than black cocoa powder) to have deeper flavor nuances and chocolate notes. Cookies made with black cocoa powder have a chocolate flavor that’s similar to Oreo cookies, so if you like Oreos you’ll love them.
And if you want super deep, dark, nearly black baked goods, black cocoa powder is the way to go!
Are These Halloween Cookies Easy to Make?
Yes! This is a beginner-level recipe that’s fun to make with kids.
To make the dough for these chocolate Halloween cookies, we only need 1 bowl and about 10 minutes. There’s no need to chill dough dough, and you don’t need any fancy equipment to make them.
The only tricky part to making these cookies is stretching the marshmallow across them for to look like cobwebs, but I have a couple tips to make this run smoothly:
- Make sure the marshmallow is cool enough to handle, but still warm and stretchy.
- Don’t forget to grease your hands!
More Halloween Recipes to Try
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Cobweb Halloween Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened but not fully melted
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup black cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder optional
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- Nonstick cooking spray or butter or coconut oil (to grease your hands)
- Black sprinkle mix
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla to a large bowl, and stir to combine (or use a hand-held electric mixer to beat together).
- Add the flour, black cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and instant espresso powder to the butter mixture. Stir or beat until combined (the dough will be thick).
- Use a 1.5-tablespoon scoop to measure out the dough. Arrange the dough balls on 2 large baking trays.
- Bake until the cookies are set and golden on the bottom, about 11 to 13 minutes. Cool completely.
- Once the cookies are cool, melt the marshmallows in the microwave or a double boiler. If you’re melting them in the microwave, heat them until melted in 15-second intervals, stirring between each interval.
- Let the melted marshmallow cool just until it’s not too hot to handle. Grease your hands, grab a small piece of marshmallow, stretch it out into strands, and wrap the strands around each cookie to look like cobwebs. Top with black sprinkles.
- Serve.
Video
Notes
- Storage: Before you spread the marshmallow “cobwebs” on top, you can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. After adding the marshmallow strands, store these cookies in a single layer for up 2 days. The marshmallow will stay very sticky, so I recommend storing them in a single layer on a large baking tray (and not double stacking!).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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