25 Best Halloween Cookies
Halloween cookies are way more fun than regular cookies because you get to be creative with decorating and nobody judges you for using tons of food coloring. These 25 recipes give you everything from simple drop cookies to fancy decorated ones. Most can be made ahead and frozen which is great since Halloween is always crazy busy. Kids love helping with these even if they make a mess.
Ghost Sugar Cookies

Cut regular sugar cookie dough with a ghost-shaped cutter and decorate with white royal icing. Add mini chocolate chips for eyes while the icing is still wet. These are classic and everyone recognizes them right away. The trick is getting the icing consistency right – not too thick or it won’t spread smooth. Make extra cause kids always want seconds. Check the recipe here.
Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles

These taste like fall and smell amazing while baking. Just add pumpkin pie spice to regular snickerdoodle dough and roll in cinnamon sugar. The spices make your kitchen smell like Halloween. These are soft and chewy and don’t need any decorating to be perfect. Good for people who want Halloween flavor without the fussy decorating. Check the recipe here. Check the recipe here.
Orange and Black Chocolate Chip Cookies

Use regular chocolate chip cookie dough but replace some chips with orange ones. You can find orange chocolate chips at the store around Halloween or just use orange candy pieces. The colors look festive and Halloween-y without any extra work. These taste like regular cookies but look special. Perfect for when you want something easy but themed. Check the recipe here.
Monster Eye Sugar Cookies

Cover round sugar cookies with colored icing and add a candy eyeball on top. You can make different colored monsters – green, purple, orange, whatever. The candy eyeballs are creepy but fun and kids love them. These look complicated but are actually pretty simple once you get the hang of flooding cookies with icing. Check the recipe here.
Pumpkin Shaped Sugar Cookies
Cut sugar cookies with a pumpkin cutter and decorate with orange icing. Add green icing for the stem and maybe score lines with a toothpick to look like a real pumpkin. These are traditional and always popular. The key is getting the orange color bright enough to look like a real pumpkin. These freeze great if you want to make them ahead. Check the recipe here.
Black Cat Silhouette Cookies

Cut cat shapes and cover completely with black icing. These look dramatic and spooky on a plate of lighter colored cookies. You can add yellow candy eyes if you want but they look good plain too. The all-black look is striking and different from most decorated cookies. These are my favorite because they’re elegant but still Halloween-y. Check the recipe here.
Candy Corn Cookies

These are tricky to get the three colors right but look amazing when you do. You can try layering different colored doughs or just decorating sugar cookies with yellow, orange, and white icing. The layered dough method is harder but looks more realistic. Either way people will be impressed that you made candy corn cookies. Check the recipe here.
Mummy Wrap Cookies

Start with any shaped cookie and drizzle white icing back and forth to look like mummy bandages. Leave gaps for the face and add chocolate chip eyes. These work with round cookies, finger-shaped cookies, or even gingerbread men. The messier the icing the better – mummies aren’t supposed to look perfect. Really fun for kids to help with. Check the recipe here.
Bat Wing Chocolate Cookies
Cut chocolate cookies with a bat-shaped cutter or just make wing shapes. These look dramatic especially if you use a really dark chocolate dough. You can dust them with black cocoa powder to make them even darker. Arrange them on the plate like they’re flying for extra effect. These taste really good and look sophisticated. Check the recipe here.
Jack-o’-Lantern Face Cookies

Orange sugar cookies with black icing piped on for faces. Everyone can make different expressions which is fun. Triangle eyes and jagged mouths work best. These are classic Halloween and kids love making scary or silly faces. The orange cookies taste good plain too if someone messes up the decorating. Check the recipe here.
Spiderweb Decorated Sugar Cookies

Pipe concentric circles of icing then drag a toothpick from center to edge to make web patterns. Sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty easy once you try it. The web pattern looks really cool and professional. You can make these any color but black and orange look most Halloween-y. Add a plastic spider on top if you want. Check the recipe here.
Orange Creamsicle Halloween Cookies

These taste like orange creamsicles and are perfect for Halloween colors. The orange flavor is from extract and zest, and you can add white chocolate chips for the cream part. They’re bright orange without food coloring and taste amazing. Different from all the chocolate and spice flavors most Halloween cookies have. Check the recipe here.
Skeleton Bone Cookies

Cut cookies in bone shapes and cover with white icing. These are simple but look great mixed with other Halloween cookies. You can make them different sizes for variety. Dog bone cutters work if you can’t find skeleton bone ones. Kids think these are funny especially if you tell them they’re dinosaur bones. Check the recipe here.
Caramel Apple Cookies
These taste like caramel apples in cookie form. Start with apple-flavored cookies and drizzle with caramel icing. You can add chopped nuts if you want the full caramel apple experience. These capture that classic fall flavor and smell amazing while baking. Good for people who want something different from all the chocolate options. Check the recipe here.
Haunted House Gingerbread Cookies

Like gingerbread men but cut in house shapes and decorated spooky. Add black icing for windows, orange for pumpkins, whatever you want. These are more work but look really impressive. You can make them as simple or detailed as you want. Good project for a rainy Halloween weekend when you got time to be creative. Check the recipe here.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Regular chocolate chip cookies but with pumpkin puree added to the dough. They’re soft and cake-like and taste like fall. The pumpkin keeps them moist for days. These don’t need decorating because the flavor is the star. Perfect for when you want Halloween taste without the decorating fuss. They freeze really well too. Check the recipe here.
Witch’s Brew Cookies
These can be any flavor but decorated to look magical – maybe purple and green icing with sprinkles. The name is more important than the actual recipe. You can make them bubbly-looking or add edible glitter for magic sparkle. Kids love the idea of eating witch’s brew even if it’s just sugar cookies. Let your imagination go wild with the decorating. Check the recipe here.
Frankenstein Monster Cookies
Green sugar cookies with black icing for hair and features. These are fun because everyone’s Frankenstein looks different. Add bolt decorations made from silver candies or icing. The green color is fun to make and kids love the monster theme. These look complicated but are just decorated sugar cookies when you break it down. Check the recipe here.
Autumn Leaf Sugar Cookies

Cut cookies in leaf shapes and decorate with fall colors – red, orange, yellow, brown. These are pretty and seasonal without being specifically Halloween. You can add edible gold dust for fancy fall leaves. These work for Thanksgiving too if you make extras. The leaf shapes are easier to cut than some of the more complex Halloween cutters. Check the recipe here.
Halloween Funfetti Cookies
Regular funfetti cookies but with Halloween colored sprinkles mixed in. These are easy and festive without any decorating needed. Kids love the colorful sprinkles and they taste like birthday cake. You can find orange and black sprinkles at most stores around Halloween. These are foolproof and always turn out good. Check the recipe here.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Cookies

These are like little sandwich cookies with pumpkin cookies and cream cheese filling. They’re more work than regular cookies but worth it for something special. The cream cheese filling balances the spiced pumpkin cookies perfectly. These are impressive but not too hard if you got some baking experience. Make them smaller than regular whoopie pies so people can eat more varieties. Check the recipe here.