These Halloween Sugar Cookies are a simple way to add a little Halloween magic to school lunches or Halloween parties. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut ghoulish shapes from chocolate cookie dough then decorate with royal icing and candy eyes.
The spooky season is upon us! Halloween is my favourite holiday and I love creating creepy treats and devilish drinks to celebrate. Type ‘Halloween’ in the search bar and you’ll find everything from a Sourdough ‘Boogasse’ (a French style bread) to a Tiki-style Zombie Cocktail.
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Simply Spooky Halloween Sugar Cookies
Sugar cookies aren’t just for Christmas anymore, they’ve just gotten a lot spookier for the Halloween season! This rich chocolate sugar cookie dough comes together quickly and rolls out like a dream! All you need is a gingerbread man cookie cutter and a little imagination.
Bake up these cookies, then simply decorate with piped royal icing and candy eyeballs. Use your imagination to create your own spooky characters or take inspiration from the skeletons and mummies in the photos. If you prefer to add some colour to your designs, edible markers in various colours over the royal icing design work like a charm!
This Halloween Sugar Cookie recipe makes enough for 36 ghouls and goblins and would make an excellent trick or treat item when wrapped in cellophane.
Ingredients for Halloween Sugar Cookies
This is a basic sugar cookie recipe. However, the cocoa really makes this dough a treat. You can leave it out to make regular sugar cookies, but the white icing decoration won’t stand out as much on white sugar cookies. Alternatively, you can tint the royal icing with food coloring to make it stand out more.
Though the list of ingredients seems long, it contains regular pantry items used in baking.
- Butter
- Sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Extract
- All Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Candy Eyeballs
- Confectioner’s Sugar
- Whole Milk
- Light Corn Syrup
Typically, the butter should be unsalted and at room temperature. This makes it easy to cream into the granulated sugar. Most recipes these days ask for large eggs and the average weight of a large egg is 2 oz. or 57 grams, if you were wondering.
Besides the candy eyeballs, the one ingredient that is a little different is the clear vanilla extract. Now, it’s not a big deal if you don’t have it. However, it does make a slight difference in the colour of the royal icing. It will look slightly ‘off white’ if you use regular vanilla extract.
A Word About Cocoa Powder
There are two types of cocoa powder: Dutch processed and natural cocoa powder. Both are very different and have different jobs when it comes to baking.
Dutch processed cocoa powder is ground cocoa beans that have been washed with an alkaline solution to neutralize their natural acidity. It is used in recipes that call for baking powder and is easily dissolvable in water.
Natural cocoa powder is unprocessed and therefore, naturally acidic. In recipes that contain baking soda (like cakes and muffins), it will be reactive and create rise. Use only natural cocoa powder in this sugar cookie recipe, along with baking powder.
Other Items Needed for this Recipe
When embarking on a baking project, even one as simple as these Halloween Sugar Cookies, it is a good idea to think about tools you’ll need for success.
Handy tools for baking these cookies range from a stand mixer to a toothpick and everything in between! Here is a list of items that make cookie baking a whole lot easier:
- Stand Mixer
- Bowl scraper
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Mixing Bowl
- Wooden Spoon
- Whisk
- Sifter
- Rolling Pin
- Plastic Wrap
- Cookie Cutter
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheet(s)
- Cookie Lifter
- Wire Cooling Rack
- Piping Bag
- Wilton #1 piping tip and coupler
- Toothpick
How to Make Halloween Sugar Cookies
The Dough
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until creamy and light in colour (about 5 minutes). Next, mix in the egg, 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, and the almond extract.
In a large bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt together with a whisk. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
Finally, divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Flatten both dough balls into a disc and refrigerate for 2 hours or more.
How to Cut and Bake Sugar Cookies
To begin, preheat oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Remove one disc of chilled dough from the fridge and place on a liberally floured counter. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to between 1/8″ to 1/4 inch thick. Use a gingerbread cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you can. Transfer the cut outs to the prepared baking sheets.
Bake the cookies in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat rolling, cutting, baking, and cooling process with second disc of dough. Keep the dough scraps from both discs and gather them together. Wrap the used dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 60 minutes. Re-roll the dough and bake as directed.
How to Make Royal Icing
In another large bowl, mix the sifted confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar) with the milk, corn syrup and remaining amount of vanilla extract. Mix well until the consistency is relatively stiff. A drizzle of icing should hold its shape briefly before merging back into the bowl of icing.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #1 piping tip and coupler.
Decorating Halloween Sugar Cookies
To make a skeleton: pipe a little hole for the mouth, then outline the skull and fill it in. Use a toothpick to guide and fill as necessary. Pipe approximate bones on the body. Add two eyeballs to each skull (use a tiny bit of icing to stick them onto the cookie).
To make a mummy cookie: pipe out the lines as shown in the pictures. Keep them apart and not too close as they will bleed into each other. Add two eyeballs to each mummy.
Allow the royal icing to dry for a few hours before moving.
If you make these Simply Spooky Halloween Sugar Cookies, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for my latest recipes. Also, if you do make this recipe please tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see what you guys are making! Thank you so much for reading my blog.
Simply Spooky Halloween Sugar Cookies
These Halloween Sugar Cookies are a simple way to add a little Halloween magic to school lunches or Halloween parties. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut ghoulish shapes from chocolate cookie dough then decorate with royal icing and candy eyes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter; room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract {clear preferred); divided
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- candy eyeballs
FOR THE ROYAL ICING
- 3 cups confectioner's sugar; sifted
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
Instructions
- Add the butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until creamy and light in colour (about 5 minutes).
- Mix in the egg, 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, and the almond extract.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together with a whisk.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
- Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Flatten both into a disc and refrigerate for 2 hours or more.
- Preheat oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Remove one disc of dough from the fridge and place on a liberally floured counter. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to between 1/8 " to 1/4 " thick.
- Use a gingerbread cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you can*. Arrange them onto the prepared baking sheet. Re-roll the dough as needed**.
- Bake the cookies in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire cooling rack.
- Repeat rolling, cutting, baking, and cooling process with second disc of dough.
FOR THE ROYAL ICING
- In another large bowl, mix the sifted confectioner's sugar with the milk, corn syrup and remaining amount of vanilla extract. Mix well until the consistency is relatively stiff. A drizzle of icing should hold its shape briefly before merging back into the bowl of icing.
- Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #1 piping tip and coupler.
- Pipe the icing onto a cooled cookie as desired. To make a skeleton, pipe a little hole for the mouth, then outline the skull and fill it in. Use a toothpick to guide and fill as necessary. Pipe approximate bones on the body. Add two eyeballs to each skull (use a tiny bit of icing to stick them onto the cookie).
- To make a mummy cookie, pipe out the lines as shown in the pictures. Keep them apart and not too close as they will bleed into each other. Add two eyeballs to each mummy.
- Allow the royal icing to dry for a few hours before moving.
Notes
*You may need to flour the cookie cutter to prevent the dough from sticking.
**If the dough is too warm and sticky after rolling, gather all the extra dough and re-wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for an hour before re-rolling and cutting.
To make regular sugar cookies - Leave out the cocoa powder and increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add some colour to the royal icing as it won't show up as nicely on the cookies.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 116Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 59mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 0gSugar: 16gProtein: 1g
Nutritional calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator.
Oh these look super fun to make! I love how you turned a gingerbread man cutout into a skeleton! Great idea!
Sometimes you just have to work with what you got!
These cookies are too cute to eat. lol!
I am going to make this, and I am sure my kids will love this!
I’m sure they will too. Happy Halloween Amy and family!
These cookies are super cute and so easy to make and decorate, I even had the candy eyes on hand. I never thought of making a chocolate sugar cookie, but love the flavor.
Hey you never know when you’re going to need a pack of candy eyes!
The kiddos and I had so much fun making these together! We really enjoyed the cookies!
I bet they’re so excited for Halloween. Thanks for trying the cookie recipe Lilly.
These cookies are so fun! I love the directions on frosting them. It’s really helpful and easy to follow.
I’m not a master cookie decorator by any means, but I felt like these are do-able for most people, like me.
These cookies are way too cute! I can’t wait to make them with the kids this weekend!
Excellent! Happy Halloween to you all.