Magical Halloween Treats – Candy Filled Cauldron Cookies

Conjure up some magical Halloween treats  this year by filling chocolate cauldron cookies with a bewitching potion of candy bones, eyeballs, skulls, and more.

Our Halloween party is in just over 2 weeks and I sure could use a little magic to get all the desserts made for the 150-175 guests who will be attending this year.

Eek! Yes, I said, 150-175 guests.

For our 10th annual Halloween party, we have decided to join forces with some friends who throw amazing parties too. Our guest list is huge this year, but thankfully I have lots of help with the decorating and, for the first time ever, the party is not being held at our house.

So, you’d think I would not feel overwhelmed right now, but I am in charge of making all the desserts, including a wedding cake, for the big bash. Eek!

We hosted a witch themed party a few years ago, so I’ve already created several bewitching desserts, including Backside Black Cookies, Chocolate Cauldrons filled with Pudding Potion, Cauldron Caramel Apples, and even Black Cat Caramel Apples, but my guests always look forward to seeing new and exciting treats on the dessert table. It’s the highlight of the party for many of my friends.

Candy filled pinata cookies always get rave reviews, so I decided to create a few different styles this year, starting with these bubbling cauldrons.

I couldn’t resist filling them with things a witch might throw into her potion. Wilton has some really fun Halloween candy sprinkles in the shapes of bones, spiders, skulls, and eyeballs and they were the perfect size for inside my cookies.

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Chocolate Cauldron Cookies

Prep Time

1 hr 30 mins

Cook Time

12 mins

Total Time

1 hr 42 mins

 

These candy filled 3-D Chocolate Cauldron Cookies will be the hit at your next Halloween party!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cookies

Keyword: cauldron themed dessert, halloween desserts, pinata cookies

Servings: 22

Author: Beth Jackson Klosterboer

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons butter softened slightly
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cup flour

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar.
2. Cream until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
4. Combine cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and flour in a small bowl.
5. Stir in to wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated.
6. Flatten dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap or place in a zip top bag. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
7. Remove dough from refrigerator.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. Roll dough out to 1/16 - 1/8 inch thickness.
10. Cut out 22 cauldrons using a 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 inch cauldron cookie cutter.
11. Set on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
12. Bake cauldron cookies for 10-12 minutes until the edges are set.
13. Roll out the remaining dough to 1/16th of an inch.
14. Cut out 22 circles using 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutters.
15. Set rounds of dough over the tops of a cake ball pan.
16. Pop pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.
17. Bake the domed circle cookies for 7-9 minutes until the edges are set.
18. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

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Candy Filled Cauldron Cookies

You’ll need:

22 chocolate cauldron cookies
1 1/3 cups candy (skull, bone, eyeball, spider sprinkles)
4 ounces melted and tempered chocolate or candy melts
1/2 cup green and white candy pearls
4 colored (red/yellow/orange) fruit rolls (thin fruit leather rolls)

small cauldron cookie cutter (about 2 1/2 inches wide)*
2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter
silicone mat
rolling pin (nonstick fondant rolling pin works best)
cake ball pan
food use only paint brush
scissors

*I found my small cauldron cutter in a set of three witch themed cutters at Walmart this season (2015.)

Instructions:

Make the cookie dough, refrigerate it for an hour, then roll it out on a silicone mat. For the cauldrons, you want the dough to be about 1/8th inch thick. Use a small cauldron cutter to cut out 22 cookies. I find it easiest to peel away the excess dough, then pop the cut out cookies in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Then they are easy to peel off the silicone mat.

Set the cauldrons on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will lose their sheen when they are ready. If you like really crispy cookies, bake them for 14 minutes.

Then roll out the remaining dough thinner, about 1/16th inch thick. Cut out 22 circles using a 2 1/2 inch round cutter. Remove the excess dough, and pop the mat in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Peel the dough round off the mat and set each round over the tops of the cake ball pan. Smooth out the dough curving it over the domed pan.

Pop the dough covered pan back in the freezer for 15 minutes, then bake for 7-9 minutes until the edges look set.

Allow all the cookies to cool completely before decorating.

To assemble the cookies, you’ll need some melted and tempered chocolate or candy melts. Fill the domed cookies with candy.

I used  bone, skull, spiders, eyeballs, and pumpkin shaped candies. Any small candy will work well, but I thought it was fun to have potion ingredients in my cookies.

Paint a thin layer of chocolate around the top edge of the domed cookie, then turn a cauldron cookie upside down and set it on top of the domed cookie. Hold it for a minute until the chocolate sets.

Brush some chocolate along the top edge of the cauldrons and sprinkle on some green and white candy pearls.

Cut flames out of the fruit roll up and press onto the base of the cauldron. They should stick without needing to add any chocolate.

When you serve these cookies for Halloween, your friends and family can crack them open to reveal the candy hiding inside.

You can find the items needed to make these Candy Filled Cauldron Cookies at Amazon.com. (commission earned for sales)
(I found the small cauldron cutter at Walmart)

    
     

To see more fun Halloween Treats, check out my Halloween recipes, here.

Here are a few fun recipes to make for a witch themed Halloween party.

Chocolate Cauldrons filled with Pudding Potion

Backside Black Cookies

Black Cat Caramel Apples

Chocolate Caramel Apples