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Dark Chocolate Halloween Cookies make a spooky and tasty treat! The dark as night chocolate cookies are the perfect backdrop for the pumpkin orange candies. Serve these chocolate Halloween cookies at your Halloween party, or give them to friends and neighbors to say Happy Halloween!
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Dark Chocolate Halloween Cookies
Hello my Ghoulish friends! It’s time for another tasty Halloween treat! No tricks, I promise! Please tell me you are a chocolate lover like I am. You kind of have to be one because these cookies are so scary chocolatey!
When I say chocolatey, I’m talking triple chocolate! Starting with dark cocoa powder, then add in dark chocolate chips. If that isn’t enough, add in some chocolate candies with a bright Jack-o’-Lantern orange coating!
Dark Chocolate Halloween Cookies are super yummy! They are rich, slightly crisp around the edges, and soft and a little chewy in the middle! That’s a lot going on in this fearfully festive Halloween cookie!
I did say no tricks, but I couldn’t resist just one… a little trick that really makes the chocolate flavor pop. Instant Espresso Powder (affiliate). Just a little goes a long way in this darkly delicious chocolate cookies recipe!
A few helpful tips to make these truly terrifying Halloween Cookies
- Use a stand mixer if you can. This dough gets really thick! If you want a good arm workout, use a wooden spoon!
- Have your eggs at room temperature. If you forgot to take them out of the fridge, crack them into a dish to warm up while you gather everything you need.
- Butter also needs to be at room temp. If it is cold, you can microwave it on the defrost setting for fish. Only do about 30 seconds, then check it. Do another 15 seconds if you need to. Don’t let it get too soft!
- Line your baking sheets. You can use parchment paper or silicone baking mats. It’s so much easier to get the cookies off! The pans stay cleaner, too!
- For the darkest cookies, be sure to use dark cocoa powder. If you want them black, use some charcoal (food grade) or black food coloring.
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Dark Chocolate Halloween Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter (1 cup) room temperature
- ¾ cup Brown Sugar, packed
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 lg Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- ¾ cup Dark Cocoa Powder (such as Hershey's Special Dark®)
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Instant Espresso Powder (optional)
- 1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 ¼ cups Orange Colored M&M's® (or other orange candy coated chocolate candies)
Instructions
- I like to use my stand mixer for this recipe as the dough gets very thick.
- In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder, if using. Mix together well.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- add the dark chocolate chips and mix them in.
- Add the M&M's® and mix them in gently so they don't break. If a few break that's fine.
- Line 2 cookie baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a 2 Tbsp ice cream scoop to scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets. Don't press them down, just leave them like that. Make 3 rows of 4. You should get 24 cookies.
- If you need to, gently press extra M&M's onto the cookies before baking so that bright orange candy shows!
- Bake in a 350° (F) oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are done/firm around the edges when pressed. They will still be soft in the middle and just a little puffed up.
- Remove from oven and cool cookies in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! I have been looking for a good brownie cookie recipe and this is it! Can’t wait to bring them to the Halloween party tomorrow! Followed the recipe exactly and cooked them for 9 min. Perfect! Going to follow the lead of the another comment and make them for Christmas with Red and Green M&Ms.
Absolutely delicious! I took them to a party at work and everyone loved them. I had to make another batch for home and another one for my husband’s coworkers. I’m planning on making them for Christmas too and use red and green candies instead. Thanks for the recipe!
Can you substitute the eggs for bananas or something else?
Yes.
I made these wonderful cookies for a high school girls basketball team. They went crazy for them! I will be making them again with different colored M&Ms for a post-game treat. The espresso powder makes them stellar!
So I made these these for a party on Saturday. I didn’t have enough time on Saturday to make them so i made them the night before.Everyone LOVED them. Kept calling them Brownie Cookies. I kept them soft so i only did it for the 8 minutes with the 5 minute cool on pan time and then wire rack. Then put them in tupperware and left on counter covered. Everyone wanted the recipe so thank you for posting this! Great recipe!
will these hold up well if made ahead of time?
They will, for a couple of days, if sealed tightly.
I made these for a high school girls basketball team. They were a HUGE hit with the team! I’m definitely keeping this one.
Have you tried to freeze the dough? How did it turn out?
No, I haven’t frozen the dough, but have refrigerated it with no issues.
These look delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Is it really a 2 ounce scoop used? That’s 4 Tbsps, which would be a pretty big cookie. In the picture they look “regular” sized, to me. I’m looking forward to making these for my granddaughter.
Hmmm, good question. I remember measuring my scoop, but may have recorded the oz wrong. They were about 3″ cookies, and you get 24 per batch. I’ll double check.
any update on the cookie scoop size I want to bake these this week thanks in advance
Yes, it’s 2 Tbsp. Updating now!
Does it matter whether it’s dark or light brown sugar I never know which to use
No, either works!
These are just awesome! Super chocolatey and just a little soft. Will make these again for my work party.