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Peanut butter cookies made with candy spiders on top placed next to a glass of milk on a table
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Spider Cookies

These delicious yet spooky cookies are a sweet treat for your Halloween!  Delicious peanut butter cookies topped with chocolate candy spiders are sure to please any sweet tooth.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Halloween desserts, Halloween recipes,
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Chill dough 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 32 minutes
Author Jeannie Z

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt

For the Spiders

  • 1 box Whopper candies (12 ounce carton)
  • ¾ cup chocolate chips, melted
  • Spinkles for the eyes

Instructions

  • Using a mixer, cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth. Add in the eggs, beating well after each one is added. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the vanilla and peanut butter. Mix until well combined.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
  • Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until well combined.
  • Cover dough tightly and chill for at least 3 hours and up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
  • Once dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mats (optional). Place the chilled dough on the counter to soften a little while your oven is preheating.
  • Roll the dough into balls (about one tablespoon dough each). Place them two inches apart from each other on a baking sheet.
  • Bake them for 11-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
  • Remove from oven and gently place two Whopper candies on top of each cookie.  Press down slightly more on one of the Whoppers to resemble the spider's head.
  • Let them sit on the baking sheet for five minutes before placing on a cooling rack.
  • Once all the cookies are made and cooled completely, melt the chocolate chips.
  • Place about ¾ cup chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and stir. Heat at additional 15 second increments and stir after each one until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
  • Place the melted chocolate into a decorating bag and using a writing tip, make the legs of the spider. Make four legs on each side of the Whoppers. Working from the center out, make two legs going towards the back and two legs going towards the front of the spider. 
  • For the eyes, place two small dots of melted chocolate on the "spider head" Whopper and place a sprinkle on each dot of melted chocolate.
  • Let sit until the chocolate has set.
  • Store cookies in an air tight container for up to one week.

Notes

Recipe Tips:

As mentioned above, chill the dough for thicker, more flavorful cookies.
Once  the dough has chilled, take it out and place it on your counter for about ten minutes before you start making the cookies so the dough can soften up a little.  (I usually do this step while my oven is preheating.)  
When using my cookie scoop, I also roll the dough balls between my hands to make them more rounded. I like to have the dough balls rounded so that the cookies will turn out with a nice shape.
It is a good idea to separate the smaller Whopper candy from the larger ones. This way you can use the smaller ones for the spider heads. (This is a great job for kids to do!)
Have the Whopper candy out and ready to go before the cookies are baked so that you can place them onto the cookies while they are warm. The Whoppers will stick to the cookies better if added when warm.

Decorating Tips:

If you don't have a decorating bag and writing tip for the frosting, just cut the very edge off of a corner of a sandwich bag.  Place the melted chocolate chips into the bag, seal the bag. Squeeze the bag to get the melted chocolate out of the bag. 
Make sure you cut just a small tip off the corner so that not too much chocolate comes out at once.  Really.  Almost as if you don't cut anything off...that small.  If the corner is cut too large, more chocolate will come out than needed. I learned this one from experience!  
Tip for the eyes:
You can use a toothpick to add the chocolate on for the eyes.  To do this dip the tip of a toothpick in the melted chocolate and then use that end of the toothpick to pick up the sprinkles for the eyes.  Gently place the eyes on the spider heads.
You can also use tweezers to pick up the sprinkles and add them to the cookies.
Decorating the cookies usually takes me about an hour.