18 Festive and Spooky Halloween Cookies

August 20, 2019
Thomas J. Story
Celebrate the spookiest season of the year with one of our favorite Halloween cookie recipes. Whether you're looking for adorable ghosts, gross bugs, or monstrous Frankenstein cookie bars, you can't go wrong with these cute and creepy recipes. 
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Halloween Spider Cookies

Sara Tane
Halloween Spider Cookies Recipe

Landing somewhere between adorable and slightly spooky, these Halloween spider cookies are sure to fulfill all your creepy-crawly sweet needs for your upcoming Halloween festivities. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your spider cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Decorate these Halloween cut-out cookies with black gel icing, royal icing, candy eyes, orangle and black sprinkles, or whatever fun decorations you have on hand. These cookies make for a playful, spooky food craft that grown-ups and kids alike can enjoy.

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Ghost Cookies

Sara Tane
Ghost Cookies Recipe

Prepare for a  sweet scare when these adorable Halloween ghost cookies are all iced, decorated, and ready to party. Super easy and kid-friendly to make, these butter cut-out cookies coated with royal icing are the perfect dessert for your Halloween spread. Candy eyeballs add a playful, whimsical touch to these spooky treats, but you could also use black icing to draw eyes on your ghost cookies. Using a classic cut-out butter cookie dough keeps the edges of your ghost cookies shape neat and clean—no worries about the cookies expanding when they bake. Whip up a batch with the kids and let them go to town with the decorating for a fun Halloween kitchen activity.

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Frankenstein Cookies 

Photo: Darcy Lenz
Frankenstein Cookies  Recipe

Starting with refrigerated, store-bought cookie dough, these cooky Frankenstein cookies are an easy Halloween baking project to whip up this year. That said, packaged cookie dough is made to spread, so if you’d rather your Frankenstein cookies have rectangular or otherwise shaped faces (as opposed to these round-faced cuties), you can use a classic cut-out cookie dough that will better hold its shape.

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Candy Corn Cookies

Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Linda Hirst
Candy Corn Cookies Recipe

Those fancy Halloween slice-and-bake cookies are a breeze to make at home thanks to a little food coloring. And trust us, these candy corn cookies are infinitely more delicious than the Halloween candy they’re inspired by (no offense if you like candy corn). Easy to make and absolutely adorable, these autumn-inspired treats are as perfect to send for the kids’ school Halloween party as they are to bring to your own fall festivities. You can even prep the dough a few days in advance and refrigerate, so that baking off the candy corn cookies is a breeze on the day you plan to eat them. Just follow the recipe through step 3, and be sure to wrap the loaf pan tightly with a few layers of plastic wrap. 

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Monster Cookies

Photo: Sara Tane
Monster Cookies Recipe

They’re not called monster cookies because they’re scary… but they are monstrously delicious. In fact. these chunky, chewy  monster cookies might just be the king of all kitchen sink cookies. Featuring peanut butter, oats, crushed pretzels, M&Ms, and chunks of milk chocolate, they hit every necessary cookie note—chewy, crispy, salty, sweet, chocolatey, and buttery.

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Haunting Slices

Oxmoor House
Haunting Slices Recipe
Slicing these cookies is half the fun. You never know what silly or scary expression you will get!
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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Butter

Sara Tane
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Butter Recipe

Brown butter takes these rich, seasonal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to the next level, adding a nutty, fragrant flavor that is absolutely perfect for fall. Canned pumpkin puree lends moisture to these fluffy, cake-like treats while warm chocolate chips fill every bite. Make these for a Halloween party or a fall dinner party, and be sure to store any leftovers in an airtight container.

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Jack-o'-lantern Cookies

Jack-o'-lantern Cookies Recipe
How cute are these little pumpkins? They're a labor of love, but these adorable cookies will quickly become a Halloween tradition.

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Black Cats & Bats

Oxmoor House
Black Cats & Bats Recipe
Don't let these black cats and bats scare you... they are as sweet as can be.
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Witchy Cookies

Witchy Cookies Recipe
Save time by using refrigerated sugar-cookie dough to make these spooky witch cookies. Use green food coloring and cocoa to dye the dough green and brown then decorate with brown icing and mini chocolate candies.

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Black Cat Sandwich Cookies

Photo: Johnny Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr
Black Cat Sandwich Cookies Recipe

Letting these cookies cross your path will bring bad luck, so make sure to gobble them up before the tray passes you by.

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Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies

Photo: Romulo Yanes; Styling: Rachel Haas
Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies Recipe
Gingerbread  cutters work if you're making skeletons. You can also use 2 1/2-inch cat or bat cutters. Look for meringue powder at craft stores or in the craft section of some big-box retailers.
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Witches' Hats

Photo: Ralph Anderson
Witches' Hats Recipe

Bring out your inner witch to make these two-cute cookies that kids are sure to love. Bonus? They're super easy.

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Cemetery Cookie Dessert

Oxmoor House
Cemetery Cookie Dessert Recipe
Little cookies stand up to resemble little tombstones on this easy-to-make dessert.

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Witches' Brooms

Oxmoor House
Witches' Brooms Recipe
Any witch would love to have a sweet broom like these yummy cookies!
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Cookie Bugs

Oxmoor House
Cookie Bugs Recipe
The anise in these little cookies goes well with the little licorice legs on each one!

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Melted Witches

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
Melted Witches Recipe
Make a sweet treat that looks like the evil witch has melted right out of her hat.

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Frankenstein Cookie Bars

Thomas J. Story
Frankenstein Cookie Bars Recipe

These bars make a fun Halloween treat, and they're very flavorful: the green tea frosting cloaks a chewy-soft coconut-lime cookie. They're easy enough that the kids can help you make them.

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