Halloween Sugar Cookies Recipe

Photos of Halloween Sugar Cookies Recipe

Trick or treat! Halloween may seem to be all about candy, but we would like to make a case for Halloween sugar cookies too! They’re crisp on the outside and soft on the inside cut-out sugar cookies topped with a simple icing. This easy cookie recipe is one of those fun things to bake at home with the kids during the spooky season. Plus, it’s a clever way to use up ingredients already in your pantry.

Our Halloween sugar cookies recipe makes the best cookies perfect for those trick-or-treaters. Bring them to parties or devour them during a Harry Potter movie marathon — we will not judge you either way.

For more delightful cookie recipes like this, try your hand with our cinnamon sugar cookies. Feeling like doing some fall-themed ones instead? Then you’ll definitely fall for these soft pumpkin cookies!

Tips on Making Halloween Sugar Cookies

Tips on making Halloween sugar cookies, Piping icing on shaped sugar cookies

While decorating and making sugar cookies seems like an exciting idea, they never quite turn out like the ones you find on Pinterest. Even when you have all the right ingredients, things can easily go south once you start baking and decorating.

Fret not, for with these tips, you’ll be able to make perfect Halloween sugar cookies every time!

Use a thickness guide for cookie dough. Try using an adjustable rolling pin with thickness rings. These are tools that slide onto your pin to serve as a guide for even thickness. It will make your cookies look more professional and help with making even-baked cookies.
Outline and flood your cookies. In general, decorating Halloween cookies starts by outlining the edges of a cookie. The outline should be thick enough that it holds its shape, but not so thick that it’s hard to spread it around. Then, flood or fill in the cookie with a smooth, seamless top. The icing for flooding should be thinner in consistency than what you use for the outline.
Decorate your cookies. Finish off by adding in tiny little details. Marbling always looks so good and way less complicated — you just have to work quickly while the icing is wet. You can add sprinkles or colored sugar, or dot the cookies with polka dots.

Adjust baking time when necessary. All cookies come out soft right after baking. But they become crunchy and crisp once they cool completely. As such, if your cookies end up a little more crunchy than you would like, try baking them for a few minutes less to get the desired consistency and vice versa.
Use a piping bag or plastic sandwich bags or ziplock bags as alternatives. Fold the bag into a triangle then fill it with frosting. Then, cut the corner and you’re ready to pipe the frosting onto your cookies.
Let the cookies cool completely first before customizing. There’s a reason why most baking recipes require you to cool your cookies completely. And this Halloween cookie recipe is no different! If you’re topping them with icing and frostings right out of the oven, your decorations will melt! Make sure they are completely cooled before decorating.
Allow each icing layer to rest before topping with more. If you’ll be adding several layers of icing, give the previous layer a few hours to dry before adding on. Then, let the finished products dry overnight to let them set up before packaging.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you keep sugar cookies from spreading?

Chilling your cookie dough keeps them from spreading. The colder the dough, the less the cookies are likely to over-spread. So, when making Halloween sugar cookies, plan ahead and chill the dough overnight. Then, before baking, let the dough sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before rolling and cutting them into shape.

How do you make Halloween cookie cutters?

Halloween-themed cookie cutters are readily available online. But, there are also likely many things at home that you can use as cookie cutters. The top of your drinking glass, pizza cutters, etc. You can also create a stencil out of cardboard or foil for various shapes like a cross, bat, pumpkin, or coffin.

What can I use to decorate Halloween cookies?

You will mostly need piping bags and piping nozzles (decorating tips) for your icing. It’s good to have toothpicks on hand for spreading the icing on the cookie. Some rubber bands are also handy in tying the top of the piping bags and keep the icing from spilling.

How To Make Halloween Sugar Cookies

This batch of decorated Halloween cookies is a spooktastic dessert to serve for the horrific holiday. Enjoy a crisp, mouth-watering sugar cookie with a decadent frosting on top!

Prep: 20 mins

Chilling: 1 hr

Cook: 8 mins

Total: 1 hr 28 mins

Makes:

Ingredients

For the Sugar Cookies:

1 egg
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

For the Icing:

3 ¾ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup shortening
6 tbsp water
food coloring, optional (yellow, orange, black, or white)

Instructions

Sugar Cookies:

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the eggs and vanilla extract until well-combined.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
Gently incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Shape the dough and divide them into two portions. Cover in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough into ¼ of an inch thick.
Cut the dough using Halloween cookie cutters or use a knife to shape as desired.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and line the cookie in a single layer, 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until light brown.
Once done, place on cooling racks to cool.

Icing:

In a bowl, beat the powdered sugar, shortening, water, and food coloring until desired consistency. Keep adding more water if thin consistency is preferred.
Scoop in piping bags and pipe onto the cooled cookies.
Let the frosting set and serve your spooky Halloween Sugar Cookies!

Recipe Notes

When stored properly, unfrosted cookies can last up to 2 weeks in the fridge. But freezing them is your best bet if you want them to stay fresh longer.

Nutrition

Sugar: 25g
:
Calcium: 14mg
Calories: 182kcal
Carbohydrates: 31g
Cholesterol: 7mg
Fat: 6g
Fiber: 1g
Iron: 1mg
Monounsaturated Fat: 3g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g
Potassium: 14mg
Protein: 1g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Sodium: 114mg
Trans Fat: 1g
Vitamin A: 179IU
Vitamin C: 1mg

Nutrition Disclaimer

Share your tips and tricks for making these spooky Halloween Sugar Cookies in the Baking and Desserts forum section. Join the discussion and let us know how your batch turned out!

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Conclusion

Decorating your Halloween sugar cookies doesn’t have to be complex. With our Halloween cookies recipe, you can learn how to make tasty treats and decorate them after! Make several batches of these sugar cookies ahead of Halloween. And don’t forget to share with your friends and family. Happy baking!