Red Velvet Halloween Spider Cookies

These spooky red velvet Halloween spider cookies are perfect for Halloween! They’re easy to make, soft and gooey, and loaded with chocolate!

With Halloween just around the corner, now is the time to start thinking about what spooky treats you’ll be serving up! These Red Velvet Halloween Spider Cookies are sure to be a hit with kids and adults alike.

The cookies are made with a rich red velvet cake batter, and they’re loaded with delicious chocolate chips. They are soft, gooey, and full of flavour.

They’re easy to make and taste delicious, plus they’ll definitely get you in the Halloween spirit! Let’s get started!

Why You Will Love this Red Velvet Cookie Recipe

• Lots of Chocolate flavour! We load the cookies with chocolate!
• Makes about 12 LARGE cookies.
• Freezes beautifully. You can freeze the dough to bake later!
• Save money. Making cookies at home is so much cheaper.
• Soft and Chewy, and just a touch gooey!
• Perfectly spooky, a fun Halloween treat!
• Easy to make!

Tips for the BEST Halloween Cookies

• When measuring out your flour make sure you spoon and level it to avoid dense cookies.
• Do not over mix your cookie dough or the cookies will be dense.
• Use a cookie scoop if you don’t have a scale to ensure your cookies are equally sized and bake evenly.
• Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for more consistent results.
• Oven temperatures and bake times will vary. They are ready when the cookies just start to look set in the middle. You want to take these out a little early as they will set more as they cool. They are meant to be a little gooey inside still.
• If you have a food scale on hand, I like to weigh the cookies to 6oz exactly that way I know they will bake evenly
• These cookies are huge, You can make them smaller, and adjust the bake time accordingly.

How to Store Red Velvet Cookies

The cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week. If you need to store them longer, I would recommend freezing.

You can freeze the dough to bake later. Simply allow the dough to come to room temperature before you bake.

You can also freeze the baked cookies, frosted or unfrosted. To do this, you want to partially freeze them for about an hour in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. This helps ensure that the cookies don’t stick to each other. Wrap each cookie with plastic wrap, then transfer to an airtight freezer bag.

About the Ingredients for Red Velvet Halloween Spider Cookies

Butter – Using unsalted butter and then adding salt gives you the best control over the amount of salt in the recipe. You can use salted butter if you prefer but you will want to halve the additional salt. Make sure the butter is cold, but not frozen.

Sugar – Just plain old white granulated sugar.

Eggs – It is best if you use room temperature eggs.

Vanilla Extract – Use pure vanilla extract for the best flavour, but artificial is just fine too.

Food colouring – Use red gel food colouring for the most vibrant red.

Cocoa powder – Make sure you are using unsweetened cocoa powder, and not hot chocolate mix. I used Hershey’s dark cocoa powder.

Baking Soda – To leaven your cookies, so they are nice and fluffy. Make sure it is still active for best results!

Cornstarch – Helps make the cookies super tender.

Salt – Makes all the ingredients shine, if you use salted butter you may want to use only half of the salt.

Flour – If you don’t have any cake flour on hand you can use all-purpose flour with cornstarch to achieve the fluffiness that cake flour gives these cookies. To make your own cake flour substitute, measure out your flour, then remove 1 Tablespoon. Add back in 1 Tablespoons of cornstarch. Then sift your flour twice over so it is nice and fluffy like cake flour. Ready to use! Spoon and level both of the flours when measuring it, otherwise you’ll wind up with a dense cookies.

Chocolate chips – For the best flavour use semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can substitute with milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips if necessary.

Cookie icing – You can find these in the baking aisle at the grocery store. You will want white, black, and red for these cookies.

Looking for More Spooky Halloween Recipes?

Check out more of my favourite Halloween ideas!

These Frankenstein Brownies are a cute Halloween treat that are a little spooky and a little bit sweet. Perfect for Halloween parties, kids are sure to love this ghoulish treat!

This pumpkin patch jello shots recipe is a fun and festive way to bring the spirit of fall into your home. Perfect for any Halloween party!

These spooky Witch’s Brew Jello Shots are perfect for your Halloween party! Green apple flavoured and easy to make, they’re sure to be a hit.

How to Make Red Velvet Halloween Spider Cookies

Yields: 9 Cookies | Prep Time: 35 minutes | Cook Time: 11 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 ½ Cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons red gel food colouring
• ¼ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 Cup cake flour
• 1 ¾ Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tube of white cookie icing with small round tip
• 1 tube of black cookie icing with small round tip
• 1 tube of red cookie icing with small round tip

Directions:

Preheat oven to 410 degrees Fahrenheit, and line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper. Set aside.

Add butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, and using a paddle attachment cream them together until the mixture is lighter in colour, and fluffy.

Add one egg at a time, beating directly after adding, then blend the vanilla into the mixture.

Add in the red food colouring and cocoa powder, beating at low speed until mixed.

Add both types of flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt to a large bowl. Whisk to combine.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Put in the refrigerator, uncovered, until chilled for about 20 minutes.

Divide out balls of cookie dough using a digital kitchen scale, so that each weighs 6 oz.

Use your hands to form each piece of dough into tall balls, placing 4 balls at a time on a baking sheet, staggering their placement. Press additional chocolate chips upside down into the tops of each ball of dough.

Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator until ready to be baked.

Bake one baking sheet at a time, for 8-11 minutes or until the centres appear to be just set.

Take out of the oven, and set aside to cool on the baking sheet for at least 30 minutes.

Using the white cookie icing, pipe a spider web coming off on the corner of the cookies.

Using the black cookie icing, pipe lines on the sides of the chocolate chips on top to create spider legs

Using the red cookie icing, pipe an hourglass shape in the centre of the chocolate chips to make it
look like a black widow.

Allow the icing to harden before enjoying.