These Halloween Sugar Cookies are soft, buttery cut-out cookies decorated with colorful icing for a fun and festive Halloween treat. Make pumpkins, ghosts, bats, candy corn, or any of your favorite spooky shapes!
These decorated sugar cookies are such a fun baking project for Halloween. The dough is easy to roll and cut into shapes, then the cookies bake until the edges are just lightly golden. Once cooled, decorating them is the best part! Use orange, black, purple, yellow, and white icing to create as many spooky designs as you’d like.
I use my Sugar Cookie Icing to decorate these cookies because it pipes easily and can be tinted with food coloring to match each design. Make them for a Halloween party, classroom treat, or spend an afternoon decorating cookies with the kids. If you want an even easier version that doesn’t require rolling or cutting dough, try my Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars. They’re soft, festive, and topped with colorful buttercream and Halloween sprinkles.
Why You’ll Love These Halloween Cookies
- Fun to decorate. Make pumpkins, ghosts, bats, candy corn, or use any Halloween cookie cutters you have.
- Simple ingredients. The sugar cookie dough is made with basic baking staples.
- No chill time. You can roll and cut the dough right after mixing.
- Great for parties. These colorful cookies make a fun addition to any Halloween dessert table.
Ingredients Needed
This soft sugar cookie recipe only requires 7-ingredients! These are great with or without the icing. Get the full amounts in the recipe card below.
- Flour: All-purpose flour gives the cookies their structure.
- Baking powder: Gives the cookies just a little lift while baking.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness.
- Butter: Use softened unsalted butter for the cookie dough.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the cookies and creams with the butter for a light texture.
- Eggs: You’ll need 2 large eggs.
- Vanilla: Adds flavor to the sugar cookie dough.
- Sugar Cookie Icing: Use my Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe and tint it with food coloring to create your Halloween designs.
How To Make Halloween Sugar Cookies
- Make the dough. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix just until a dough forms.
- Roll and cut. Divide the dough into 2-3 portions. Roll each portion on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out your Halloween shapes and place them about 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake. Bake at 350°F for 7-8 minutes, just until the edges are lightly golden. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack.
- Decorate. Once completely cool, decorate with colored sugar cookie icing. Let the icing dry completely before serving or storing.
Decorating Ideas
- Pumpkins: Tint the icing orange for the pumpkin and green for the stem. Once the orange base begins to set, add black icing to create jack-o’-lantern faces.
- Ghosts: Cover the cookies with white icing and use black icing for spooky or silly faces.
- Bats: Use black or purple icing for the base, then add contrasting details for the face and wings.
- Candy Corn: Divide the cookie into three sections and decorate with white, yellow, and orange icing.
You can keep the designs simple or add more detail once the base layer of icing begins to set. There’s no need for every cookie to look exactly alike.
Tips
- Don’t overmix the dough. Mix just until the flour is incorporated.
- Roll evenly. Keeping the dough about 1/4-inch thick helps the cookies bake evenly.
- Use a lightly floured surface. Add just enough flour to prevent sticking without working too much extra flour into the dough.
- Watch the edges. Remove the cookies when the edges are only lightly golden so they don’t overbake.
- Cool completely. Warm cookies can cause the icing to melt or run.
- Let the icing set. Allow the decorated cookies to dry completely before storing them.
Storage
Once the icing is completely dry, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5-7 days. Place parchment or wax paper between layers to protect the decorations.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cookies are ready when the edges are just beginning to turn lightly golden. For soft sugar cookies, avoid overbaking them. These only need about 7-8 minutes in the oven.
Yes. You can prepare the dough ahead of time and keep it tightly covered until you’re ready to roll, cut, and bake the cookies. Sugar cookie dough can also be frozen for longer storage. Cut-out cookie dough generally freezes well when wrapped airtight.
Halloween Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe
- Food coloring as desired
Instructions
- Prepare the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
- Make the dough. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until a dough forms. Do not overmix.
- Roll and cut. Divide the dough into 2-3 portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired Halloween shapes.
- Bake. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until the edges are just lightly golden.
- Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Decorate the Cookies
- Prepare the icing. Make the Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe and divide it into bowls. Tint each portion with food coloring as desired. Transfer the icing to piping bags fitted with small round tips.
- Outline. Pipe an outline around each completely cooled cookie using the appropriate color for your design. Let the outline set for about 30 seconds.
- Fill. Pipe the outlined area filling with icing. Use a toothpick or butter knife to gently spread the icing into any small gaps.
- Add details. Once the base icing begins to set, pipe faces, lines, wings, pumpkin details, and other decorations as desired.
- Set. Allow the icing to dry completely before serving or storing the cookies.
Last Step:
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