Chocolate Halloween cookies are a cute treat for your next Halloween party. Chewy chocolate cookies are filled with butterscotch chips and decorated with sprinkles and candies to resemble monsters.
These chocolate monster cookies will be the perfect addition to your next Halloween party tray. They're are surprisingly easy to make from scratch, and a fun recipe for kids or adults.
Chewy and moist chocolate cookies are filled with sweet butterscotch chips, then rolled in rainbow sprinkles and decorated with candy eyeballs, chocolate chips, and m&m candies.
Colors like orange, green, purple, and black give these cookies a fun Halloween feel, but can be customized with your favorite colors to match your party theme!
Ingredients and substitutions
Baking is an exact science, so I do not have many substitutions to offer for this recipe. I do not recommend omitting any of the ingredients, since each one has a purpose.
- Unsalted butter - Can be substituted with salted butter (you'll want to omit the salt listed in the recipe). Your butter should be room temperature - not cold, not melted.
- Sugars - We're using a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar for the perfect amount of sweetness and chewiness.
- Eggs - Eggs should be room temperature. Set them on the counter 1 hour before baking, or place your whole eggs in a small bowl covered in warm tap water for 15 minutes.
- Vanilla extract - Enhances the flavor of your cookies.
- All-purpose flour - I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. If you have a different flour on hand, I suggest searching for a recipe using your preferred type of flour. Many times it's not an easy 1:1 substitution, and a recipe written for a particular flour will turn out better.
- Natural cocoa powder is used in this recipe. It cannot be substituted with dutch cocoa powder - these two cocoa powders have different acidity levels and the rest of the ingredients (like the baking soda) account for this.
- Baking soda- Adds lift to your cookies. It cannot be substituted with baking powder, the two are not interchangeable.
- Salt - Enhances the flavor of your cookies and balances the sweetness without making your cookies "salty".
- Whole milk - Can be substituted with any milk you have on hand, like 1%, skim, or almond milk.
- Butterscotch chips - Can be omitted if desired (you'll make about 6-8 less cookies this way), or substituted with white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or peanut butter chips.
What kind of sprinkles do I need?
For chocolate Halloween cookies, I recommend finding jimmies (the long, thin sprinkles shown) in Halloween colors like green, purple, and orange. I also used a Halloween blend I found at the grocery store in the seasonal section.
Nonpareils (tiny round sprinkles) are another option, which tend to keep their crunchy texture after baking.
Candy eyeballs can be found at your local grocery store in the baking aisle, at Joann Fabrics, or on Amazon:
Chocolate chips make great monster horns, ears, or fangs, and m&m's candies look like warts or spots.
Try using what you have on hand - broken pretzel pieces, cashews, peanuts, and slivered almonds could make great monster body parts!
Cookie baking tips
These are my absolute favorite tips for making a successful batch of cookies!
- Room temperature ingredients - using room temperature ingredients, like butter and eggs, is important when making cookies. Room temperature ingredients cream together with the sugar to create an emulsion. This traps air in the dough, which helps create a soft and fluffy cookie.
- Properly measuring flour - One of the most frequent issues I see with cookie making is the improper measuring of flour. Do your cookies frequently turn out cakey or thick, and don't spread well? You may be adding too much flour. To properly measure flour - use a kitchen scale. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use a spoon to scoop dough from the container to your measuring cup. Level off with a knife. Scooping directly from the container with your measuring cup will compact flour into the cup, adding up to 25% extra flour to your dough.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat instead of greasing a cookie sheet. Grease or butter on a cookie sheet will cause your cookies to spread more than they should.
Recommended
Chocolate Halloween Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (160 g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (99 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (63 g) natural cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 11 ounces (311 g) butterscotch chips
- ½ cup (100 g) jimmies sprinkles
- candy eyeballs, m&ms, and chocolate chips, optional, as decoration
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until creamed and fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, whisk (or sift) together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Stir half of dry ingredients into butter mixture and stir until combined. Add milk and stir to combine. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated (do not overmix).
- Cover bowl or wrap dough in wax paper. Chill for 1 hour (up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator. Refrigerating helps the flavors meld and also creates a firmer dough to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (do not grease your cookie sheet, this causes the cookies to spread more in the oven). Set aside.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. Scoop dough using a medium cookie scoop or shape by hand into 1.5 inch balls. Roll balls in sprinkles and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Decorate with candy eyeballs and m&ms candies (or other decorations you have on hand).
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies begin to crack on top and look set. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, you can place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Raw cookie dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. Cookie dough balls (and baked cookies) freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen balls to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
- Butterscotch chips can be substituted with white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or peanut butter chips.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
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