Peanut Butter Cookies are such a classic. They’re perfectly sweet with the perfect amount of saltiness to offset the sugar and are so rich and tender. But the real show stopper with this recipe is the addition of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, chocolate, and candy eyes to make these decadent Peanut Butter Cookies the cutest addition to any Halloween festivity.

Peanut Butter Spider Halloween Cookies | The Squeaky Mixer

Traditionally, Peanut Butter Cookies are crossed hatched with a fork before baking to give them that classic look and flattened texture. That’s how my Grammie makes them and they’re so nostalgic and delicious. So feel free to use this recipe all year round and skip the addition of the spider and instead add the fork cross hatches for a classic Peanut Butter Cookie.

What Happens If You Don’t Chill Peanut Butter Cookie Dough?

Chilling the cookie dough is a crucial step to this recipe. The fat content in the dough, butter, solidifies while the dough chills, this ensures that when it comes time for baking the longer it will take the fats to heat and spread causing the cookie to bake and spread a perfect amount. If this step is skipped, the cookies will spread and flatten too much in the oven. This will cause for a crunchier, flatter cookie. We want chewy, fluffy, soft in the center but perfectly crisp on the bottom peanut butter cookies.

If you aren’t a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, you can try substituting them for Whoppers, or any chocolate candy that you love that can be used as the body of our spider. You can even use Hershey Kisses to replicate the classic Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies. If you can’t find a candy you’d like to replace the Reese’s cups with, just use meted chocolate chips to pipe a spider on top of each cookie. Regardless this will make for the PERFECT Halloween treat.

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Assembling Peanut Butter Spider Halloween Cookies

Once our cookies have been baked, let them sit on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes to cool down a bit before placing the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on top. If the Reese’s are placed on top of the cookie right when they come out of the oven, they will melt right on top of the cookie and we’ll lose their shape. If the Reese’s are placed on the cookie after they’ve cooled completely, they wont press into the cookie or stay on top nicely. The 3-5 minute range is perfect for pressing our Reese’s on top. The cookies should then go right in the fridge to firm up the Reece’s on top perfectly before adding on all the little details.

Now that the bodies of our spiders are on each cookie, we are going to pipe 8 little legs on top of each cookie. Then we’re going to use that melted chocolate to act as a glue to press on our little candy eyes on the front, side of the spider. And that’s it! This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe is tasty all year round but made especially festive when adding these adorable spiders!

What Kind Of Peanut Butter Should I Use?

I recommend using a Skippy kind of Peanut Butter. While I enjoy a healthier Teddy’s peanut butter in my house, using all natural peanut butter runs the risk of the cookies becoming too dry, crumbly, or having an uneven texture. Skippy just loves to be baked with!

While we’re talking about what kind of peanut butter to use, I’ll also mention that you should 100% use creamy peanut butter over crunchy for these halloween peanut butter cookies. Crunchy peanut butter will bake with a less desirable texture and our cookies won’t look/ taste as fluffy and perfectly chewy. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE crunchy peanut butter, but for peanut butter cookies, creamy is the way to go.

Peanut Butter Spider Halloween Cookies

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Maddison Koutrouba – thesqueakymixer.com

Servings

15-20

servings

Cooking time

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups 1 3/4 all-purpose flour
1 tsp. 1 baking soda
1/4 tsp. 1/4 salt
1/2 cup 1/2 Unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup 1/2 light brown sugar
1/2 cup 1/2 granulated sugar
1/2 cup 1/2 smooth peanut butter
1 1 egg
2 tsp. 2 vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. 1 whole milk
15-20 15-20 miniature reese’s peanut butter cups
1/4 cup 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate
30-40 30-40 candy eyes

Directions

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper then set aside.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate, large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you mix.
Add in the peanut butter and continue to mi util the mixture is light, creamy, and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla to the peanut butter mixture and continue to mix while scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in the milk and mix until there are no lumps then add in the dry ingredients and mix just until everything is evenly combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl one more time to ensure that everything has incorporated evenly.
Cover the bowl of cookie dough in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and scoop the dough into about 2 Tbsp. sized balls. Place 2″ apart on the cookie sheet to prevent them from touching in the oven.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Once the cookies come out of the oven, let them sit on the the hot cookie sheet for about 3-5 minutes to cool down a bit before placing the Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups on top. If the Reece’s are placed on top of the cookie right when they come out of the oven, they will melt right on top of the cookie and we’ll lose their shape. If the Reece’s are placed on the cookie after they’ve cooled completely, they wont press into the cookie or stay on top nicely.
Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack before adding the legs and eyes.
Once the cookies have cooled down and the reece’s cups are nice and set on the cookies, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in 30 second intervals until completely melted.
Transfer the melted chocolate to a piping bag then pipe a total of 8 legs from the sides of the reece’s to the outside of the cookie. Four legs on each side 🙂
Use the melted chocolate to help act as a glue to place two candy eyes on each spider. The eyes should go on the side of the reece’s cup as well.
Enjoy!