Halloween Cookie Recipes

1 pouch Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
36 piece of Rolo candies
Black string licorice
1/3 cup (72 pieces) miniature M&M's
Betty Crocker® black decorating gel

Preheat the oven to 375°F. To make the cookie dough, use a medium mixing bowl and stir the peanut butter cookie mix, oil, water and egg together until combined and the dough forms. Using greased hands, roll the dough into 1 inch balls (should make 36 dough balls). Place the balls on ungreased cookie sheets leaving about 2" between them. Place in oven and bake until light golden brown (about 8-10 minutes). Remove cookies from the oven and immediately press a Rolo candy in the center of each cookie. Allow Rolo-topped cookies to cool for a few minutes and then transfer them from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack. Immediately decorate the cookies with the licorice and M&M's while the chocolate is still melty (that way the eyes and legs will stick). To create the spider effect, cut the black licorice into 2" long pieces and insert 8 pieces (legs) in the Rolo candy. Use two pieces of M&M's to make the eyes and black gel to make the eye pupils. Cool the Halloween cookies completely after decorating.

Voila! You've got a creepy, but edible and delicious Halloween spider treat!

Recipe from Betty Crocker

Use a package of store-bought cookie dough makes these cookie pizzas super easy to make. This is a fun activity for kids Halloween parties or to do with your own kids at home. Each child (or adult) can put their own personal spin on their pizza creation if you make smaller sized cookies. In the photo, you can see a fun jack o' lantern big cookie created with all kinds of yummy candies.

1 16.3- to 18-ounce roll or package refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough, cut into 1/4-inch slices
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
Assorted candies
Dry-roasted peanuts
Hot fudge or chocolate ice cream topping

Directions
1. To make one large peanut butter cookie, line a 12- to 13-inch pizza pan with foil; grease foil and set aside. Press cookie dough slices into prepared pan to within 1 inch of the edge of the pan. Shape a pumpkin stem in dough. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned and center appears set. Alternatively, roll out the cookie dough and use a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out a bunch of cookies for a group of kids to decorate (then they can each have their own cookie creation).

2. Upon removing the cookies from the oven, immediately sprinkle the cookies with chocolate chips and also drop peanut butter by spoonfuls atop chocolate pieces. Let stand for 5 minutes. Use a spatula or knife to gently spread the melted chocolate chips and peanut butter over warm crust. By putting the peanut butter and chocolate chips on together, you can create a sort of swirled chocolate effect.

3. Using all the assorted candies, peanuts and fudge topping you've purchased, create jack o' lantern faces on top each cookie. NOTE - you should do this while the chocolate/peanut butter "icing" is still melty so that the candies stick. Then place the decorated cookies in the refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the chocolate mixture is set. If you make one large cookies, you can just cut it into wedges to serve OR you can serve the individual cut-out cookies. Each packet of dough makes about 16 cookies or wedges (from the one large cookie).

Recipe from Midwest Living

Moon pies are a staple convenience store treat in just about every Southern home in America. Why not take those tasty treats and turn them into cute Halloween owl goodies like the ones shown in the photo. At a local craft store, you can purchase lollipop sticks or simple 1/4" wooden dowels. To decorate the moon pies like owls, use open faced chocolate dipped Oreo cookies for the eyes, chocolate M&M's or chocolate chips for the eye pupils, and candy corn for the nose. You can secure the cookies and candy to the moon pie using melted chocolate coating. Then, place each moon pie on a wooden stick by inserting it through the marshmallow center and securing it with some melted chocolate candy coating. And you've got an eye-popping, kid-friendly sweet treat that will bring smiles to their faces!

NOTE - Hostess Ding Dongs would also work to create these fun owl treats. And they would also be tasty treats at an owl baby shower.

Recipe from Southern Living

If you are baking challenged or just don't have a lot of time to create your own Halloween treats, fear not because these cookies are about as easy as you can get. Three ingredients is all it takes to create these cute little witch hats and best of all, there is no baking involved!

1 (4.25-ounce) tube orange or red decorating frosting
1 (11 1/2-ounce) package fudge-striped shortbread cookies (32 cookies)
1/2 (13-ounce) package milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped (32)

Fudge-striped shortbread cookies are simply topped with a chocolate kiss and finished with a frosting bow. Place the cookies with the bottoms facing up on a flat surface. Then, simply pipe a small mound of frosting in center of cookie and press a chocolate Hershey kiss on the frosting. Pipe a frosting band and bow around base of each kiss. And you'll end up with 32 adorable witch's hats to serve to guests or yourself :)

Recipe from Southern Living

Maybe you'd like to send a care package to your college student or you are hosting a big Halloween bash, but you just don't have the time to bake up and decorate a ghoulishly good batch of cookies. Well don't worry, there are tons of online companies such as Cookies by Design and Gourmet Cookie Bouquets that do all the work for you. You can find cut-out cookies arranged in a bouquet like the one shown to the right, batches of chocolate chip cookies in Halloween gift boxes, and even giant fortune cookies that can be personalized with your own foot long message. If you are looking for a memorable centerpiece for your Halloween party buffet, then a cookie or candy bouquet is a great option!