Description
These Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are a fun and festive treat perfect for Halloween or any spooky occasion. Soft and chewy peanut butter cookies are topped with mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, decorated with candy eyeballs, and finished with melted chocolate legs to create adorable edible spiders.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, 1 stick, room temperature
- ½ cup (107g) brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (66g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (201g) creamy peanut butter, not natural
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (180g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Rolling and Topping
- Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies
- 24 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- ½ cup (85g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, for melting
- Candy eyeballs
Instructions
- Freeze Reese’s Cups: Unwrap about 24 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and place them in a bowl in the freezer. This will help them maintain their shape when added to the hot cookies.
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350ºF (175ºC) for baking the cookies.
- Make Dough Base: In a mixing bowl, combine the unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Mix in the creamy peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Beat again for less than 1 minute until combined.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed or fold in with a spatula just until the dough comes together. Be careful not to overmix to keep cookies tender.
- Form Cookie Balls: Use a small cookie scoop or tablespoon to form tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Roll each ball between your hands to make it uniform, then roll in granulated sugar to coat.
- Arrange and Bake: Place cookies 2-3 inches apart on a silicone-lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 11 minutes or until the edges begin to crack and turn golden brown.
- Add Reese’s Cups: Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately press one mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into the center of each warm cookie. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to prevent the cups from sinking.
- Melt Chocolate: Place semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute, until fully melted.
- Decorate Cookies: Transfer melted chocolate to a squeeze bottle or plastic sandwich bag with the tip cut off. Draw 4 spider legs on each side of the Reese’s Cup on the cookies.
- Add Eyes: Use a small dab of melted chocolate on the back of candy eyeballs to attach them to the Reese’s Cups. Let the chocolate set before serving.
Notes
- Freezing the Reese’s Cups before adding them to the cookies helps maintain their shape and prevents melting into the dough.
- Rolling the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar gives the cookies a nice crunchy exterior once baked.
- Be careful not to overmix the dough after adding the dry ingredients to keep the cookies soft and tender.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before moving to avoid the peanut butter cups from sinking and losing shape.
- Melt the chocolate slowly at 50% power in the microwave to prevent burning and achieve a smooth drizzle for decoration.
- If candy eyeballs aren’t available, small chocolate chips or edible markers can be used as an alternative.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 14 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
