Malted Milk Ball Spider Cookies for Halloween

Delicious Spider Cookies

Y’all. These spider cookies are the cutest! And they’re also truly delicious.

The base recipe is the very solid chocolate chip cookie dough recipe from Stella Parks of Serious Eats and the wonderful cookbook BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts.

I cut the sugar by just a bit to make room for all the sugar in the 6 ounces of chopped Maltesers Malted Milk Balls I mixed in.

Thanks to sponsor, Wilton, I had super cute candy eyes which I “glued” (with royal icing) onto whole Maltesers to make round fat spider bodies.

As soon as the cookies came out of the oven, I nestled a spider body into the center of each cookie, and once they cooled, I used melted chocolate mixed with a touch of coconut oil to pipe the legs. You could also use chocolate candy melts.

How To Decorate Spider Cookies for Halloween

These guys are really easy to make. You could even start with store bought dough in your favorite flavor–peanut butter, chocolate chip, etc–and then just add the decorations after baking. Here’s a quick step by step rundown of how to make these guys.

• Use royal icing to glue the sugar eyes onto the malted milk balls and let them dry overnight.
• Bake the cookies and place a spider body in the center of each one as soon as they come out of the oven. When you do it, be sure to press them into the baked cookie to make sure enough chocolate melts to hold them in place.
• Allow the cookies to cool completely.
• Melt the chocolate candy melts (or chocolate chips and oil) in the microwave on medium power.
• Place in a zip top bag and snip off a very tiny corner.
• Pipe 8 legs onto your spider cookies.
• Allow the chocolate to cool completely and set up.
• Enjoy!

How To Make All Your Cookies the Same Size

Using a cookie scoop is the best and easiest way I’ve found to get cookies of uniform size.

They are easy to use and are not expensive, so you can get some in different sizes, depending on how large you want your cookies to be.

This is the cookie scoop I use to make these (and most other) cookies. You’ll end up with lovely 3″ cookies if you use this guy.

More Halloween Recipes

If you're looking for a savory treat, you'll love the horseradish kick of my Devilish Halloween Deviled Eggs. And if you want more cookies, you may like my soft, lemony Halloween black and white cookies.

In a donut mood? I think you'll really enjoy my pumpkin spice donuts. Packed with pumpkin and pumpkin spice in the dough and rolled in pumpkin spice sugar, they are delicious little bites of fall.

If you're having a Halloween party for grown ups and want to leave the cute Halloween treats for the kids and serve something a little more elegant, you will really love the look and taste of my Chocolate Halloween Cake!

If you have any questions about this or any other recipe or post on the site, there are a few ways to get in touch.

You can leave a comment on the post, and I'll be back in touch within 24 hours.

If your question is more pressing, don't hesitate to email me, and I should be back in touch within 4 hours (unless I'm asleep) or often much more quickly than that.

More Halloween Treats Week Posts

• Pumpkin Patch Graveyard Eclair from Big Bear's Wife
• Pumpkin Empanadas from Pook's Pantry
• Malted Milk Ball Spider Cookies from Pastry Chef Online (you're here!)
• Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes from Mrs Happy Homemaker
• Purple Velvet Halloween Layer Cake from Love and Confections
• Eyeball Jello Shots from I am a Honey Bee
• Monster Fudge from 4 Sons R Us
• Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars from A Blender Mom
• Vampire Ice Cream Floats from Daily Dish Recipes
• Graveyard Pie from Eat Move Make
• Easy Skeleton Cake Pops from Pint Sized Baker
• Swiss Meringue Spooky Skull from Kudos Kitchen
• Candy Corn Cheesecake Mousse from The Spiffy Cookie
• Melting Witch Candy Popcorn Halloween Party Mix from Lady Behind The Curtain
• Dragon's Eggs from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Graveyard Dip from Mildly Meandering
• Eyeball Cake Balls from Strawberry Blondie Kitchen
• White Chocolate Ghost Cupcakes from The Beard and The Baker
• Halloween Chocolate Blossom Sprinkle Cookies from House of Nash Eats
• Rice Krispie Haunted House from Savory Experiments
• Halloween Snack Mix from Katie's Cucina
• Monster Rice Krispies from For the Love of Food

Easy Halloween Spider Cookies (made with Malted Milk Balls)

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06/08/2023 10:57 pm GMT

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Malted Milk Ball Spider Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 14 minutes

decorating time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 59 minutes

The part of the spiders in these Halloween spider cookies is played by Maltesers with eyes from Wilton! Loaded with a ton of chopped malted milk balls and topped with spiders with chocolate legs, these are a great option for Halloween class parties or just for munching on!

Print

Ingredients

For the Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups malted milk balls, chopped
• 12 oz all purpose flour, (I used King Arthur)
• 8 oz unsalted butter, (2 sticks)
• 7 oz light brown sugar, (1 scant cup, packed)
• 6 oz white sugar, (1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, (I used Morton's)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract , (I used Adams clear vanilla)
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, (freshly grated with a microplane)
• 1 large egg

For the Decorations

• 36 malted milk balls, I used Maltesers
• 72 small candy eyes, (or you could pipe eyes on if you prefer)
• 1 Tablespoon royal icing, (for the glue)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips*
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil*

Instructions

For the Cookies

1. Set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, stir the flour together with the chopped malted milk balls.
4. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer), mix butter, both sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until smooth and then beat at medium speed for about 5 minutes until light.
5. Thoroughly mix in the egg.
6. Add the flour and candy mixture to the mixer and mix on low speed to combine evenly.
7. Use a cookie scoop to portion 36 balls of dough, 12 to a tray.
8. Bake one tray at a time until the edges are golden brown but the centers are just a bit pale, about 14-15 minutes.
9. As each tray comes out, quickly place a malted milk ball with eyes already attached in the center of each cookie and press down gently. Allow cookies to sit on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
10. Once cool, pipe on 8 chocolate legs.

To Make the Decorations

1. Use royal icing to glue two sugar eyes to each malted milk ball. Set aside to dry completely.
2. Place the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium power for 1 minute. Stir. Continue heating in 15 second bursts on medium power, stirring in between, until the chocolate and oil are completely smooth and warm but not hot.
3. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture into a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip or in a zip top bag with a very tiny corner snipped off and pipe legs on each cookie.

Notes

Note the original recipe for the cookie base is very slightly modified from Stella Parks's recipe for chopped chocolate chip cookies from her excellent BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts.

You can half the recipe to get 18 cookies. The only fussy bit is you need to beat the egg and then remove half to use in the recipe.

*Or use chocolate candy melts in place of the chocolate chips and coconut oil

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  KitchenAid 6 Quart Mixer
• 
  KitchenAid Hand Mixer
• 
  Set of Two Half-Sheet Pans
• 
  Norpro 702 Grip-EZ 1-Tablespoon Stainless Scoop
• 
  Silpat Premium Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat
• 
  MALTESERS Original Chocolatey Candy Gift Box 12.7-Ounce Box (Pack of 2)

Nutrition Information

Yield 36 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 198Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 20mgSodium 144mgCarbohydrates 29gFiber 1gSugar 19gProtein 2g

The stated nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It is calculated through third party software and is intended as a guideline only.

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Disclaimer: These posts and recipes are part of the week-long event, #HalloweenTreatsWeek but all opinions are 100% mine! We would like to Thank our amazing sponsors: Dixie Crystals, Adam's Extract, Wilton, Sweets and Treats Shop and Treat Street USA!