Chocolate butterscotch chip 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.
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.
Unsalted butter and salt can be substituted with salted butter.
I used whole milk for this recipe, but any milk you have on hand (1%, skim, almond milk) can be used.
Butterscotch chips can be omitted (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 this recipe, 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 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.
Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Halloween Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup natural cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 11 ounces butterscotch chips
- ½ cup jimmies sprinkles
- candy eyeballs, m&ms, and chocolate chips optional, as decoration
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. 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.
- Cover bowl or wrap dough in wax paper. Chill for at 1 hour (up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator. Refrigerating will help the flavors meld and also create a firmer dough to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. Scoop dough using a 1.5 tablespoon 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 10-12 minutes, or until cookies begin to crack on top. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Your 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.
- You can keep raw cookie dough 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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