These Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are adorable and delicious! They are the perfect combo for a fun Halloween treat that everyone will enjoy. Whether you make them for a party or just to eat these, Halloween cookies, are bound to be a hit!
Halloween Spider Cookies
These Halloween cookies show my weakness for one of my favorite flavor pairings— peanut butter and chocolate! As quickly as these cookies disappear, I know I'm not the only one with this weakness! They're simple and delicious!
With only a couple of extra ingredients, you can take basic peanut butter cookies to the next level by making them into Spider Cookies for Halloween. Just think of your child's eyes lighting up as they open their lunch at school and discover one of these peanut butter spider cookies looking back at them! Hopefully, they don't find it too creepy!
Whether you're making these for a cute and creepy treat leading up to Halloween, or you've got a Halloween party planned and need to serve a fun dessert to a crowd, this peanut butter spider cookies recipe will give you extra mom points, for sure!
Ingredients for Peanut Butter Spider Cookies:
- ½ cup shortening
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar for rolling
- 48 miniature peanut butter cups unwrapped and FROZEN
- 96 candy eyes
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Tip: If you live near an Aldi, use the Aldi peanut butter cups in this recipe - they come unwrapped and taste fantastic!
How to Make Halloween Cookies:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large bowl beat together shortening, peanut butter, egg, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and milk.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat until blended.
5. Form into 1" balls.
6. Roll in sugar and place a couple of inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden.
8. Immediately after pulling out of the oven, gently press an upside down frozen peanut butter cup on top of each cookie and move to a wire rack to cool.
9. After placing and moving all of the cookies on the wire rack, put in place the candy eyes while chocolate is still slightly soft.
10. Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to allow cookies to become firm.
11. Put chocolate chips in the corner of a zippered sandwich bag.
12. Microwave for 20 seconds, knead and repeat until chocolate has melted.
13. Clip a tiny piece off of the corner of the bag to allow for piping and draw eight legs on each spider cookie.
14. Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to allow legs to set.
How do you keep your peanut butter cookies from crumbling?
Usually, you can use a substitute for butter but in this recipe, it is not suggested. It tends to change the consistency of the cookie which causes it to crumble. It can also be crumbling because you are using too much flour. When you measure out your flour, level it off with the backside of a butter knife for an accurate measurment.
Print your Halloween Peanut Butter Spider Cookie Recipe below:
Cute and creepy, this Halloween Peanut Butter Spider Cookies recipe is sure to be a hit at your next Halloween party!Halloween Peanut Butter Spider Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
48
Serving Size:
1 grams
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 339Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 220mgCarbohydrates: 46gFiber: 1gSugar: 35gProtein: 6g 
Other Halloween Recipes You Might Like:
- Mummy Pizzas
- Jack-O-Lantern Cupcakes
- Halloween Cupcakes
- Mummy Twinkies Pops
- Frankenstein Rice Krispie Treats
- Candy Corn Krispie Treats
- Dracula Donuts
- Spider Deviled Eggs
- Candy Corn Rice Krispies Treats
- Mummy Hot Dogs
- Halloween Thumbprint Cookies
- Jello Witches Brew Cauldron
More Halloween Posts:
- Halloween Dinner Ideas
- Halloween Lunchbox Notes for Kids
- Disney Pumpkin Carving Patterns
- Halloween Crafts for Kids
- Halloween Cocktails
Lori
Looks great, but I don't understand why the chocolate would be soft when I add the eyes.
Abigail Brown
If the reeses cup is too hot, it will melt and collapse under the weight of the eyes. Haha found that out the hard way
Zara
Hi, looks so fun! Is there anything I can replace shortening with?
Maureen
Where did you find the candy eye's
Stefanie Fauquet
You can find them at Walmart, Target and Michaels...Also on Amazon (link in post).
Ginger K
They have them at Walmart in the baking isle. If not there any local store like Walmart will do. Have fun!
Mimi
Spider 'legs' did not go well. Chocolate does not 'flow' out of hole in Baggie 😁
Mimi
Also, need to let the peanut butter cup ' melt' a bit before attaching eyes. Wiggle them and them attach eyes to melted chocolate. Not sure why the PB cups need to be frozen.
Louise Grove
What is the yield for this recipe?
Audrianna
I think approximately 48, based on the number of PB cups you need. I'm going to make these tonight so I'll update with how many I end up with.
doyle
Made these cookies for Halloween. Great recipe. Really loved it.
Lauren
Just made these last night! Instructions were straightforward and everything went to plan. They taste fantastic! I ended up using Reese Pieces for the eyes and stuck them on with the piping chocolate 🙂
Becky
I made about 100 cookies in 2.5 hours. Quite easy to make, and the kids were happy. Using a cookie scoop, I made about 25 cookies per batch. When baking, my bottom sheet browned too much so either swap sheets on oven racks or convert to convection baking and reduce temp and time.
Loretta
Made these for Halloween dessert party and they came out great. Used Betty Crocker chocolate icing pouch which was easier for legs. I made the cookie balls bigger which produced 24 cookies. Found eyes at Albertsons.
JulieD
These are sooo cute!!!! LOVE!
April
Theses are so cute! I made these for work. I used a different peanut butter cookie recipe that has always worked for me though. I noticed other comments about them not seeing the point in freezing the Reese's. So, I didn't freeze mine. After finishing, I see why it says to freeze them. The chocolate starts to melt so fast on the warm cookie that freezing them would help slow the process. You do need them slightly melting to stick the eyeball on. These are REALLY easy to do.
Oh! And the ziplock bag with the melted chocolate was a no for me. I actually have the right size pipping tip, so I wrapped some chocolate in saran wrap and put it in a ziplock bag. Microwaved as in the directions. After it was melted, I put the chocolate in a pipping bag and squeezed it through the tip. So much easier and way less mess.
MARJORIE
Planning on making these in the next few weeks for grandkids. Can you confirm that you put the balls in the oven and do not press the thumbprint until out of the oven with the Reese’s? Thank yo
Lisa
Put them in the oven as a ball. They flatten when you push the Reese’s cup on them.
Gabby
They were so delicious and easy to make! We used mini marshmallows for the eyes.
Marilyn Giardini
Hello, please sign me up for your Email recipes newsletter. Thank you very much, Marilyn G.👼😇
Marcia
You mentioned using butter. I didn’t see any butter in the recipe just shortening. Do you use shortening or butter?
Anonymous
Can I replace the shortening with butter or vegetable oil? Or do you have a better idea of what would work well in place of shortening? Thank you!
Natalie
Hi! These look adorable. Can you substitute butter for shortening?
Kristen Chang
You can use butter. This is basically Peant Butter Blossom cookie recipe or also know as Hershey Kiss cookies. I made these with shortening but would’ve preferred butter as the texture is better.
Patricia Fox
Can I use all natural peanut butter in this recipe? I've seen other recipes requiring peanut butter and some say do not use the all natural kind.