This Halloween bake up a batch of these gruesome Spider Infested Chocolate Chip Cookies for your party guests. Each large cookie is loaded with chocolate chips. Some even look like spiders with chocolate legs.
Recipe originally published on September 26, 2013.
Spiders have infested my chocolate chip cookies. Gross, right?
Why would I do this to a perfectly innocent, thick and chewy cookie?
Well, the other day I came across a picture of a cookie that had images of spiders superimposed on it. It really looked like the spiders were in the cookie. It was just a bit of Photoshop magic, but I knew baking up a batch of chocolate chip arachnids would be as easy as waving a wizard’s wand.
I figured if I was going to infest any cookies with spiders, I would use my absolute favorite recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. It makes the biggest, thickest, chewiest cookies bursting with caramel and chocolate flavors.
My husband would love for me to make these every week and he was so happy to smell the fresh baked cookies when he got home from work.
He asked if he could have one. He always asks first. He knows better than to eat something before a photo shoot. I gave him permission and waited to see his reaction. He lifted the tin foil off the plate of cookies. He jumped a little.
Of course, he tried to be cool about it and jumped even further just for effect, laughing as he imitated my reaction to being surprised by a spider.
Yes, I scream, every time.
A few years ago, surrounded by big furry stuffed spiders, a group of party guests was playing a game in our basement. Someone mentioned how lifelike our Halloween decorations had become. I turned to look at what he was pointing to and a live spider was dangling from a web right behind me. I let out a blood-curdling scream.
Hilarious?
It was to everyone in the room. I stood, red-faced, heart racing, palms sweating, as everyone watched. After all the years of having the creepiest Halloween decor on the block, I still haven’t been able to conquer my fear of the 8 legged creatures lurking in my basement.
Thankfully my phobia hasn’t kept me from eating these cookies.
Spider Infested Chocolate Chip Cookies
See the step-by-step tutorial below.
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/8 cup all purpose flour unbleached is best
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips divided
- 2 ounces for spiders, 10 ounces for in and on top of the cookies
- electric mixer
- baking sheets lined with parchment paper
- optional: #16 ice cream scoop
- squeezeit mold painter bottles or a disposable pastry bag or zip top bag
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Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Melt butter in a mixing bowl. Allow it to cool slightly.
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Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium speed for about a minute until well blended.
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Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated.
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Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together then incorporate it into the wet ingredients.
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Fold about 9 ounces (1 1/2 cups) of chips into the batter.
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Scoop out 18 cookies, about 1/4 cup of dough for each.
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Place some of the reserved chocolate chips on top of each cookie.
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Remember to keep about 2 ounces (1/3 cup) of the chips for the spiders.
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Bake cookies one tray at a time, for 14-18 minutes.
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Allow cookies to cool completely.
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Place the remaining 2 ounces of chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl.
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Heat for 20 seconds, stir, then for 15 seconds, stir.
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Allow the chocolate to sit for 1 minute, then stir again.
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If you need to, heat it for 10 more seconds, then repeat until melted.
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Pour into a squeeze-it mold painter bottle fitted with a #2 round pastry tip, or a disposable pastry bag or zip top bag with the tip snipped off.
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Pipe on spider heads and legs around some of the larger chocolate chips.
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Allow to dry.
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Serve with a glass of milk.
How to make Spider Chocolate Chip Cookies
Supplies:
electric mixer
baking sheets lined with parchment paper
optional: #16 ice cream scoop
squeeze-it mold painter bottles, or a disposable pastry bag or zip-top bag
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Melt butter in a mixing bowl.
- Allow it to cool slightly.
- Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium speed for about a minute until well blended.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated.
- Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together then incorporate it into the wet ingredients.
- If using a hand-held mixer, it probably won’t be strong enough to mix this completely, so switch over to a spoon or spatula.
- Fold about 9 ounces (1 1/2 cups) of chips into the batter.
- Scoop out 18 cookies, about 1/4 cup of dough for each.
- I used a #16 ice cream scoop.
- Place cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet with plenty of room to spread.
- Place some of the reserved chocolate chips on top of each cookie just to be sure you have chips with which you can make your spiders.
- Remember to keep about 2 ounces (1/3 cup) of the chips for the spiders.
- Bake cookies one tray at a time, for 14-18 minutes.
- The cookies should begin to set around the edges, be light golden brown, yet still be soft in the center.
- Allow your cookies to cool completely.
- Place the remaining 2 ounces of chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl.
- Heat for 20 seconds, stir, then for 15 seconds, stir.
- Allow the chocolate to sit for 1 minute, then stir again.
- If you need to, heat it for 10 more seconds, then repeat until melted.
- Pour into a squeeze-it mold painter bottle fitted with a #2 round pastry tip, or a disposable pastry bag or zip-top bag with the tip snipped off.
- Pipe on spider heads and legs around some of the larger chocolate chips.
- Allow to dry.
Serve with a glass of milk.
Keep stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
These can be frozen for up to a few months but should be thawed in the refrigerator overnight, before being exposed to room temperature air.
Spider Infested Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
If you prefer oatmeal raisin cookies over chocolate chip cookies, check out my tutorial to add raisin spiders to your cookies.
Be sure to check out all the Halloween recipes here on Hungry Happenings.
More ghoulish and creepy Halloween edible craft ideas from Hungry Happenings
Cake Ball Brains Oozing Cherry Blood
Cookies ‘n Cream Tombstones with clever epitaphs
Super Sized Chocolate Cake Ball Spider
White Chocolate Popcorn Infested with Milk Chocolate Roaches
Cookie Crumble Cheesecake Caterpillars
Hand-Burger Dripping in Blood (excerpt from Hungry Halloween).
These cookies are delicious! One of the best CC cookies I’ve made in years. Thanks for sharing! (And ‘concur’ took me a minute. Should be conquer.)
I am so happy to hear you loved the chocolate chips cookie recipe. It is my favorite! I fixed my typo. Thanks. 🙂
I used 1/4 a cup, and got only 12 they’re huge. But I dont care, why?! Because these are the VERY first batch of cookies I made that FINALLY came out! Mine have always tasted like play dough or were rock hard lol I wish I could pin this recipe! But I’ll just subscribe (: Ioveeeee Halloween so i know I’ll be making these again soon and slightly smaller, thanos for the awesome recipe!!
I’m so glad you found success with this chocolate chip cookie recipe. It is my absolute favorite cookie recipe. The cookies are huge, that’s for sure, but I’ve made them smaller and even little bite size cookies too. It’s definitely a recipe to keep on file. Enjoy!!!
Thank you for the recipe 🙂
You are welcome! Enjoy. 🙂
These are SO cute! I love them. Perfect for kids 🙂
Dara
http://www.peoniesandhoneybees.com
Why do people do that? It must make them feel special, even if it's not real. Very strange!
I do believe that some people don't really think they need to give credit, while other's just want to capitalize on the work of others. Either way, it's frustrating.
Hi Beth! Just wanted to let you know that I am still having fun with your spidery chocolate chip cookies. This time I made them shaped like gingerbread men with spiders crawling all over them. Thank you again for sharing this brilliant idea! Here are my gingerbread (or shortbread, really) men cookies: http://www.wingitvegan.com/2014/10/arachnophobia-cookies.html
I also wanted to let you know that I saw this today and it looks like they forgot to credit your original idea: http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1052531/spider-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe
Hi River, your cookies are so much fun. I do appreciate you crediting my original cookies. Many other's have not and the cookies have now been duplicated so many times that it's impossible for me to ask all of them to do so. Oh, the life of a blogger!
I love that you made a great looking halloween dessert without adding any flavouring, gelatin, coloring… just a bright idea ! Thanks!
I just love those little spiders! Not a lot of work, but you can really see the TLC in them.
Such a great idea, they turned out so cute! We featured this recipe in our Featured Friday blog post this past week for Halloween Desserts, hope you can visit! http://returntothetable.net/recipes/sweet-endings/halloween-desserts/
Love it!:)
wow wonderful idea 🙂
I made these for my classmates, they loved them. May I say best cookies I've ever tasted!
Hi Kimberlyy, I'm so happy to hear you made these and really enjoyed them. I've made so many chocolate chip cookie recipes in my life, and these are my absolute favorite!
I made them for my classmates they loved them, may I say best cookies I've ever tasted!
These are super cute! I bet they were delicious!
You are an evil genius!! I am obsessed with this idea, it is so awesome!!
Thanks, Beth!
Thank you so much for sharing this BRILLIANT idea, Beth! So simple, yet so awesome! I made some and blogged them here: http://www.wingitvegan.com/2013/10/spider-infested-chocolate-chip-cookies_30.html
I'm so glad you like them and made some for Halloween. Thanks for linking back to my site. I'll share your cookies in my Reader's Gallery!
These are adorable and so "do-able", even for those of us who are less talented in the baking department! I shared with my readers here: http://seektobemerry.blogspot.com/2013/10/this-is-beginning.html Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Thanks so much for sharing!
They are very delicious
These are ADORABLE!! LOVE LOVE LOVE them!
I features this at TGIF today (http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2013/10/tgif-linky-party-99.html) Thanks for linking up and sharing your creativity with the rest of us! I hope to see you linked up again later today!
Have a GREAT weekend,
Beth =)
What do you mean by the largr egg?:0
In our grocery stores, we can buy small, medium, large, extra large, and jumbo eggs. They sort them by size. So, most baking recipes will call for large eggs.
This is a great idea! How unique!
This looks so fun..and yummy! I might even go make them right now! I'm pinning on my (CarlaINHouston) Halloween board–thanks for sharing!!
Thanks, Carla. Be sure to snap some pictures to share with me if you do make them. I'd love to see you cookies. Thanks for the pin!
Such a cute idea! Pinning!
I wonder if you can make the legs by using a toothpick and reshaping the chips while still hot? Will have to try…:)
Hi Natalie, I did actually try that and it worked alright, but the legs weren't as defined as I wanted them to be. I thought piping on the chocolate took much less time and looked better. If you make them and use the toothpick, let me know what you think. I'd love to share a picture of your cookies too. Thanks:)
I wonder if you can make the legs by using a toothpick and reshaping the chips while still hot? Will have to try…:)
It's so easy to just pin these great ideas and be on your way, but these cookies are so awesome, so I wanted to leave you a quick note to say just how much I love them! I'll be making these this year for sure!
Thanks, Aida. I've been challenging myself to come up with some simple projects that are equally festive. I'm so glad you like the cookies!
These are so simple, but so festive! You have so many amazing ideas for Halloween. Love 'em!
This is such a great idea Beth…I love this!
Thanks, Jill:)
These are awesome, but I don't know if I could bring myself to make them, I hate spiders and they look a little too real! Fun idea 🙂
Stopping by from the Home Work Party, Dawn from I Think We Could Be Friends.com
It's funny, as I am soooooooooo afraid of spiders myself, but it didn't stop me from chowing down on several of these cookies. I know you can do it too:)
Thanks so much for this wonderful yet creepy idea!!
You are welcome:) I'm glad you like them.
o.m.g! hilarious! and cute! and creepy!
Thanks:)
Simple, cute, funny… just great idea! Pinned!
Thanks so much for pinning:)
super super super cute!!!!!
These are fabulous. Love 'em.
Thank you, Lora.
When I first saw these (unbelievably) cute cookies..i knew I would have to make them for my grandbabies. But when I read through your post, I realized how much more fun it would be to present them like you did..just pop the lid off and wait for the screeches! I love these!
The element of surprise definitely made for some good Halloween fun. I'd love to hear how your grandkids react.
They look amazingly realistic! Way to go, Beth! Cute and creepy at the same time:)
These cookies are just so FUN, I LOVE them!
Genius. Genius. So genius.
Wow, thanks, Meaghan:)
I always love your recipes and I finally got my letters so I can make the grave stones this year. You are so clever and are always my first go to site. Trish Butler
Oh, you will have so much fun with the impression letters. They are so much fun to use.
Creative and unique 🙂
Thank you! I do strive for that:)
These cookies are the best! I will be making these cookies. The kids are going to love them.
Thank you, Jennifer. I'd love to see pictures if you do make the cookies.
These are so cool! I have to make these for halloween 😀
Thank you, Aimee. If you do make them, be sure to snap some pictures and send them to me so I can share in my Readers' Gallery!
LOVE THESE! I can see myself making these, up my alley in the way of baking 🙂 Your food is always amazing. Thanks for continuing to create & share.
Thanks:) These cookies were really fun to make. I hope you try them for Halloween.
These are so cool! I love how just a simple touch makes these festive!
Thanks, Janine:)
GENIUS!!! A little creepy, but not too much 😉 They made me giggle!
I love to make you giggle!
You are sooo creative, Beth! Simple but oh-so cute. Definitely making these, this is the perfect excuse for a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Thanks for sharing!
I totally agree. I just might have to bake some more soon. Ours are almost gone!
these are FLIPPIN' AWESOME! i'd like a world wide web of them please, and i won't even scream 🙂
I'd gladly fill your web with them! Your too funny:)
Seriously, you are the genius of easy creative food – I love these and it's exactly how I want my chocolate
chip cookies this Halloween!
Thanks:) It's the only way to eat a chocolate chip cookie, at Halloween!
Your Halloween ideas are always my favorite!! I love that these creepy cookies take little effort, but still have a big gross factor. Thanks!!!
That's so nice to hear. Halloween is definitely my favorite time of year to make edible crafts and it's the only time I can make something a bit gross!
Super cute.
Thank, Mindy:)
That looks so cute I am gonna try it. U could make the chocolate chip cookies with pre-made Schwan’s cookies.
Yes, you can definitely make these using store bought cookies! It will be easy and fun.