Peanut Butter Jack-O-Lantern Cookies

My husband begs me to make peanut butter cookies all the time and he was hoping I’d make some for our Halloween party. At first I couldn’t figure out a way to make them look festive, but then Wilton sent me the coolest Halloween silicone mold and I found a way to turn a batch of ordinary cookies into Peanut Butter Jack-O-Lantern Cookies.

I used a recipe that has been in my recipe box since I was in elementary school. I’ve never tried baking a batch of peanut butter cookies using any other recipe. I figure why mess with a good thing.

The cookies are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, packed with peanut flavor, and my husband loves them.

At the end of our pumpkin carving party on Saturday night, he told me he didn’t get to eat a single dessert during the five hour event. He was so busy entertaining guests that he didn’t even make it over to the dessert area.

When we were cleaning up, I found one lonely peanut butter cookie left in the skeleton bowl along with just a handful of other treats. This entire 6 foot by 5 foot display of desserts was gone by night’s end.

Peanut Butter Jack-O-Lantern Cookies | HungryHappenings.com

I gave the cookie to Jim, which he happily enjoyed.

It’s not like he doesn’t get a ton of sweets around here, but for the past few weeks, everything I made was saved for the party. He wasn’t allowed to eat anything, except for a few scraps.

So, yesterday when he smelled the sweet aroma of peanut butter cookies baking, he ran into the kitchen with a big grin on his face, patting his belly, begging to have one hot out of the oven.

When I told him the cookies were all for him, his eyes lit up like a child on Christmas, or Halloween, as the case may be. Of course, he realized I made them so I could take pictures to share with you, but that was of little consequence to him. He’s was just happy to get his own batch of cookies.

Halloween Peanut Butter Pumpkin Shaped Cookies | HungryHappenings.com

Peanut Butter Jack-O-Lantern Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cocoa powder

Supplies:

3 Wilton Silicone Jack-O-Lantern Molds

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter. Add egg and stir to combine. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Pinch off 2 tablespoons of dough and mix in 2 1/2 teaspoons of cocoa powder until well blended. Pinch off 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and mix in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cocoa powder.

Pinch off tiny pieces of the dark dough and press it into the jack-o-lantern faces in the mold. You can be messy at first, then simply wipe over the features with your finger and remove any excess dough.

Pinch off 1/4 teaspoon pieces of the light brown dough and press it into the stem area.

Scoop out about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the peanut butter dough and press it into the mold, over the jack-o-lantern face.

Fill all 18 cavities in the three silicone molds.

Bake for 14 minutes, turning them around after 10 minutes, just so they brown evenly.

Allow them to cool in the mold for ten minutes, then turn the mold upside down, tug on the mold around the cavities, and the cookies will fall out.

Allow them to cool completely.

I made my first batch of these cookies about a week before my party, froze them, then thawed them the day of the event. They tasted like they just came out of the oven.

I am part of Wilton’s Sweet Treat Team and am compensated and given free products in order to create recipes to share with you. I love their silicone molds, and as you know, I use them all the time. All opinions expressed here are my own.

If you are searching for more festive Halloween treats, check out all my Halloween recipes by clicking this link.

Items used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com
(commission earned for sales)

More Jack-O-Lantern Treats

from Hungry Happenings

Popcorn Bowl Jack-O-Lantern

filled with Halloween Popcorn

Pumpkin Spice Jack-O-Lantern Rice Krispie Treat Pops

Naturally Colored Happy Jack-O-Lantern Cheesecake

Pumpkin Pail Cake filled with Candy

Bite Size Cheesecake Pumpkins

Cocoa Krispies Trick or Treat Bear

Halloween Pancakes filled with Nutella

Pumpkin Pinata Cake

Comments

Jill @ KitchenFunWithMy3Sons.com

October 29, 2014 at 12:33 pm

These are so cute Beth!

Jo and Sue

October 29, 2014 at 6:53 pm

Apparently I need to invest in more silicone molds. I never bake with them as I find them "weird" but after seeing how creatively you keep using yours I am starting to think I need to try them again. 🙂 P.S. – Peanut butter cookies are my favorite. I definitely would have to hoard these for myself!

The Partiologist

October 30, 2014 at 7:46 pm

They turned out fantastic – I love the 3-D look of the combined colors! I just made Peanut butter cookies yesterday!