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These Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are so much fun! If you’re looking for something to get your kids into the kitchen with you this is perfect. The kiddos can create their own creepy peanut butter cookies for Halloween!
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
We show you two different ways to make Spider Cookies using peanut butter cookie dough and sugar cookie dough. The Sugar Cookies are decorated with Rolos and the Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are decorated with Whoppers. These fun Halloween cookies are super easy to make and always such a huge hit!
Ingredients You Will Need:
(full amounts in recipe box below)
- Butter – unsalted butter and peanut butter are used for this recipe.
- Sugars – you will need granulated sugar and brown sugar.
- Vanilla – adds a nice flavor.
- Egg – this will bind the ingredients together.
- Flour – all-purposed flour.
- Baking Soda – used to give a nice puffiness to the cookies.
- Candy – you will need Reese’s peanut butter cups and candy eyes.
- Icing – black cookie icing works best for these cookies.
How To Make Spider Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl beat together butter, peanut butter, egg, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until blended.
- Form into balls.
- Bake.
- Pipe on the chocolate icing.
- Add Reese’s and other candy eyes.
- Serve and enjoy!
These are also a fun idea that you can make for Halloween class parties at school that will take you just minutes to make!
Variations for Spider Cookies:
Change out the Reese’s peanut butter cups to Whoppers.
Not a fan of Peanut Butter?
Make spider cookies using sugar cookie dough. Another candy you can use are Rolo’s.
Tips for Success
- For Piping – store bought cookie icing will be prepared for you to pipe straight from the bag. If you make your own icing, scoop into a baggie, snip off the corner and pipe with that method.
- Decorating – these decorating tweezers making things so much easier. Perfect for attaching the candy eyes. We use them for lots of other recipes as well.
- Mixing – If using a handheld electric mixer or a mixing bowl with low sides, start mixing the butter and sugar together on a low speed for 30 seconds, until the butter and sugar begin to hold together. Then, increase to medium speed. You want to start on a low speed so that the sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl.
- Altering texture – For a more moist cookie, lower the flour amount to 1 ¾ cups of flour. However, the reduced amount of flour won’t produce the same lifted dome that the extra couple tablespoons help with!
- Shaping – To get a round, domed cookie, swirl the cookie inside a round cookie cutter or large glass to shape it after inserting the reese’s cup. The reese’s cup can cause the cookie to further crack or break and this will help reshape and lift it. I would especially recommend doing this if you reduce the amount of flour.
- Chilling – Don’t skip on chilling the reese’s cups! If you add room temperature reese’s onto a warm cookie, they will melt.
- Butter – The butter doesn’t need to be perfectly room temperature, but note that if you use butter straight from the fridge, you’ll need to beat it longer. If using chilled butter, I would beat it for 1 minute before adding the sugars to warm it up. Conversely, it’s important to not use butter that’s too warm. If the butter is too warm the cookies will come out of the oven flat. Room temperature butter is ideal.
Other Fun Halloween recipes:
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
These Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are so much fun! If you're looking for something to get your kids into the kitchen with you this is perfect. The kiddos can create their own creepy peanut butter cookies for Halloween!
Servings: 25 cookies
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 25 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups
- 1 tube Black Cookie Icing
- 25 pairs candy eyes
Spider Sugar Cookies Ingredients
- 1 package of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough
- 1 bag of Rolo’s 12 unwrapped
- 1 package of small candy eyes
- Chocolate or Black cookie icing
Instructions
- Add the butter and sugars to a large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat them together on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes. Once creamed, add in the peanut butter and mix again on medium speed until combined.
- Then, add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on a low speed until just combined. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix again on a low speed.
- Shape the cookie dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for one hour to chill.
- Place the mini Reese’s cups in the refrigerator to also chill. After the cookie dough has been chilling for one hour, preheat the oven to 350℉ and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Create 1-inch balls of dough and place them on the baking sheet about two inches apart. Bake each sheet of cookies one at a time one the middle rack for 10-11 minutes, just until the cookies begin to crack.
- While the cookies bake, unwrap the Reese’s cups and then keep in the refrigerator until use. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, gently press a Reese’s cup into the center of a cookie. Then, move the cookies to a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies are cool, pipe on the spider’s legs. Create eight legs by drawing four lines from the Reese’s cup outward and down the cookie on each side. Dab two spots of icing to glue the eyes to the body of the Reese’s cups.
Notes
Reese’s – Some of the chocolate will peel away with the wrapper of the mini reese’s cups when you unwrap them. We found that the reese’s stayed more intact if they were unwrapped chilled vs unwrapped at room temperature, so wait to unwrap them after chilling in the refrigerator. If you forget to chill the reese’s cups for an hour in the fridge, pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes. Either way, just make sure that they’re chilled and not room temperature!
When Cookies are Ready – he cookies will still be soft when they come out of the oven. It’s OK if the tops haven’t cracked when you take them out, but if they’re cracked at 10 minutes, they’re ready! They’ll continue to cook for a minute or two more while you’re placing the reese’s cups in them, and then will firm up as they cool.
Cooling – Make sure the cookies are fully cooled down before decorating them with the icing.
Nutrition
Serving: 21g | Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 118mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g
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3 comments on “Peanut Butter Spider Cookies”
Where do I find the ingredient amounts to make the spider cookies?
Hello Nikki,
The full recipe with both ingredients and instructions is listed at the bottom of the post.
How can I store these and for how long? I don’t have the chance to make them the day of or the day before.
Thank you!!!