Description
Halloween Inspired Peanut Butter Blossom Spider Cookies are a fun and festive treat featuring soft peanut butter cookies topped with miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups, candy eyes, and chocolate spider legs. Perfect for Halloween parties, these cookies combine classic flavors with spooky decoration for a delightful seasonal snack.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar plus 2 tbsp for rolling
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Decorations
- 24 miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups
- Candy eyes
- 1 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar: In a large mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add peanut butter and mix: Add the creamy peanut butter to the butter and sugar mixture and mix for another 1-2 minutes until fully combined.
- Incorporate eggs and vanilla: Add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla extract, mixing well to combine all ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients: Gradually add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt to the wet ingredients, mixing until the dough is fully incorporated.
- Chill the dough: Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Scoop and roll dough balls: Using a 1 oz portion scoop or measuring spoon, scoop out dough portions. Roll each into a smooth ball with your palms, then roll each ball in the 2 tbsp of granulated sugar reserved for rolling.
- Preheat oven and prepare baking sheet: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the sugar-coated cookie balls 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 11 minutes until they are golden brown and still soft in the center.
- Cool cookies slightly: Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes after baking to firm up before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Add Reese’s cups and candy eyes: Press one miniature Reese’s peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie gently. Press two candy eyes onto each peanut butter cup while it is still slightly warm to help them adhere. If they don’t stick, use a small dot of melted chocolate as glue.
- Pipe spider legs: Fill a piping bag or plastic sandwich bag with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and snip off a tiny corner. Pipe spider legs onto each cookie around the peanut butter cup to create a spider effect.
- Set and serve: Let the chocolate legs cool and harden completely before serving. Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Notes
- Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes before adding the Reese’s peanut butter cups to prevent the cups from melting too much.
- To prevent the Reese’s cups from melting, you can chill them in the freezer for a few minutes before pressing them onto the cookies.
- If candy eyes do not stick to the peanut butter cups on their own, use a small amount of melted chocolate to adhere them securely.
- Spider legs can also be drawn using a toothpick dipped in melted chocolate, black Twizzlers, or gel icing as alternatives to piping.
- Use parchment paper to prevent cookie sticking and for easy clean-up.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 15 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
