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These delightful peanut butter spider cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with a rich peanut butter flavor. With a Reese’s cup in the center and cute chocolate legs, these Halloween cookies are fun to make as they are to eat!
The Chemistry of Peanut Butter Cookies
The secret to these cookies’ soft and chewy texture lies in the balance of fats and sugars. Peanut butter adds moisture and flavor, while butter adds richness and a slightly crisp edge. Using a mix of brown and granulated sugar helps create that chewy texture, while chilling the dough helps the cookies retain their shape during baking, preventing them from spreading too thin.
Ingredient List for Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
All-purpose Flour
Builds structure as it absorbs liquids and expands. All-purpose flour falls in the middle of bread flour (high in gluten) and cake flour (low in gluten). It’s exactly what it is named, all-purpose, the most universal flour that can be used in most baked goods.
Baking Powder
Puffs up your batter or dough instead of spreading it out. Baking powder contains a little bit of baking soda, an acid & cornstarch. Because of this, it only needs a liquid to react. It also consists of two different acids, so it’s double reacting. It reacts as soon as it’s mixed with a moisture and then again when it’s heated up.
Baking Soda
Elevates the pH level of your batter or dough. It increases the spread in your treat and encourages browning, which gives the crispy outside and soft inside texture that everyone loves. Baking soda needs both an acid and a liquid to react. Things that will activate your baking soda are: vinegar, fruit juice, molasses, brown sugar, tartar, buttermilk and sour cream. Baking soda only reacts once, which is right when it’s mixed into your batter or dough. The soda creates little air bubbles all throughout your treat. When the air bubbles get heated up in the oven, they expand.
Fine Sea Salt
Enhances flavor, adds balance, masks any bitter flavors. Salt is the most powerful and oldest preservative. Always make sure to use fine sea salt so it melts down at the right speed in the heat of the oven. If you use larger granule salt, it will not melt down fully when baked and will leave salt crystals throughout your treat, making it crunch like you dropped it into sand. All of my favorite salts are from Redmond and I have a discount code for you to get 15% off.
Unsalted Butter
It is always important to use unsalted butter when baking. If you use salted butter, you have no way of knowing how much salt you are adding to your dough or batter and it will result in an overly salted treat.
Butter adds fats to your dough or batter which helps with moistness, flavor and texture. Butter melts at body temperature, which creates a ‘melt in your mouth’ sensation.
When baking with butter, the temperature is important. If the butter is too warm, your treat will melt too fast and overspread in the oven, leaving you with a greasy, flat mess. If your butter is too cold, it will have the opposite problem and not melt down enough, leaving your treat too thick.
Eggs
Adds both a protein (egg whites) and fat (egg yolks). The egg whites help with rising because, when foamed, little air pockets get trapped inside the egg white mixture. The water content in egg whites encourages steam while baking, which helps with gluten formation, resulting in nice and thick treats. Egg yolks have emulsifying properties that bring batters and doughs together and help them from collapsing. Unless otherwise specified, always use large eggs.
Brown Sugar
Is granulated sugar with a little molasses mixed in. Molasses is a somewhat smoky flavored natural sweetener, which makes brown sugar a bit sweeter than granulated sugar. Brown sugar draws more moisture into your treat, keeping it softer for longer. It’s also more acidic, which means it will help activate your baking soda.
Granulated Sugar
Adds sweetness, provides a caramelized flavor and crisp texture. Sugar assists with rising when creamed with butter. It helps add moisture to your treat and helps it evenly spread as it melts into a liquid in the heat of the oven. Sugar also helps with naturally preserving your baked treat.
Peanut Butter
Adds another fat into your dough or batter that melts easily, allowing your treat to spread a little more. It will also add a creamy texture & rich flavor to your treat.
Vanilla Extract
When using pure vanilla extract, as opposed to imitation flavoring, it will add the deep rich flavor that everybody wants in a treat.
Mini Reese’s Cups
Perfectly sized for the spider “bodies”.
Milk Chocolate
Melted to create spider legs; you can also use dark or semi-sweet chocolate.
Optional: Candy Eyes
Adds a fun, spooky touch to complete the spiders’ faces.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Prepare the Cookie Dough
- Add room-temperature butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix until well combined, then turn the mixer on high speed and whip for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is lighter in color and fluffy.
- Add the creamy peanut butter and mix until fully incorporated.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and fine sea salt.
- Turn the mixer on low and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing on low until a soft dough forms.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for 1-3 hours. Chilling helps keep the cookies from spreading too much during baking.
Shape and Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a light-metal colored cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the chilled dough using a regular-sized cookie scoop and roll it into balls. Roll each dough ball in granulated sugar, coating completely.
- Place the dough balls on the prepared cookie sheet and press down slightly with a fork to create crisscross patterns on top.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Remove from the oven, and while still warm, place a mini-Reese’s cup in the center of each cookie.
Create the Spider Decoration
- Melt the chocolate. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the milk chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring thoroughly between each interval until fully melted.
- Prepare the piping bag. Transfer the melted chocolate to a small plastic sandwich bag and snip off a tiny corner to use as a makeshift piping bag.
- Draw the spider legs. On each Reese’s cup, pip four small lines on each side to make eight legs.
- Optional: attach candy eyes. While the chocolate is still soft, place two candy eyes on each Reese’s cup to complete the spider face.
Chilling Cookie Dough
Chilling the dough firms it up, making the cookies thicker and chewier while helping them hold their shape as they bake. It also develops the flavor, melding it all together and breaks down the gluten, making it easier to digest.
Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
To keep peanut butter cookies soft, combine butter and peanut butter for moisture and chewiness. Brown sugar also adds softness, while chilling the dough before baking helps maintain thickness.
Storage Tips
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
Room Temperature– Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. They can also be frozen for more extended storage.
Freezing– Freeze the baked, undecorated cookies in a freeze-safe container for up to three months. Add the spider decorations after thawing for best results.
Make Ahead– The cookie dough can be made up to two days in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to bake. Decorate the cookies just before serving to keep the decorations fresh.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these adorable peanut butter spider cookies at Halloween parties, make an entire festive platter with Pumpkin Cinnamon Cookies, and use them at school gatherings or as a fun treat during spooky season. Pair them with a glass of milk or hot chocolate for a festive, cozy dessert.
Recommend Products
Festive Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Topping warm cookies with mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and decorating them with melted chocolate makes adorable Halloween spider cookies, adding fun and flair to a classic recipe.
These Peanut Butter Spider Cookies are perfect for Halloween! They combine a soft, chewy peanut butter cookie base with festive decorations to make “spooky” spiders. They’re simple to create, thanks to easy decorating techniques and mini Reese’s cups for the spider bodies. This kid-friendly recipe makes it a great choice for a family Halloween activity or a themed party.
These cookies are perfect for Halloween celebrations, school parties, or family gatherings. Easy and festive, they’re a fantastic way to add some Halloween cheer to your dessert table!
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Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar + more for rolling
- 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
- 24 Reeses small
- 4 ounces milk chocolate
Instructions
- Add the room-temperature butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the standing mixer bowl. Mix until combined, then turn the speed up on the mixer and whip until lighter in color and texture, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the peanut butter, mix until fully combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Pour the dry ingredients on top: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Turn the mixer on low and mix until the dough forms.
- Remove the dough and wrap in plastic wrap, place in the fridge to chill for 1-3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the dough from the fridge.
- Scoop the dough with a regular size cookie scoop into a small bowl of sugar. Roll the dough until fully covered, then place it onto light metal cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Use a fork to make a crisscross on top of the cookies.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes.
- Remove and place a Reeses on top of each cookie while still warm.
- Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly in between each time.
- Using a small plastic sandwich bag, cut a small piece of corner off and spoon the melted chocolate inside.
- Using the small sandwich bag like a piping bag, carefully make 4 lines on each side of the Reeses, making 8 spider legs.
- Allow the chocolate to set before enjoying!
Nutrition
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