Celebrate spooky season with this easy Halloween Sugar Cookie Recipe! Soft, sweet, and decorated with festive icing, they’re perfect for parties, gifting, and family fun.
If you’re looking for a fun and festive treat to bake this fall, this Halloween sugar cookie recipe is just what you need. These cookies are soft, buttery, and hold their shape perfectly for decorating with colorful icing and sprinkles.
Whether you’re making them for a party, handing them out as gifts, or baking with kids, they’re a delicious way to celebrate the spooky season.
We also love to Halloween Cake Pop Recipes, Spider Web Cupcakes, The Best Monster Cupcakes Recipe and Monster Donuts.
Don’t forget to get ready for Thanksgiving and make Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies Recipe.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe
- Fun to Decorate – The dough holds its shape well, making it perfect for festive cookie cutters and colorful icing.
- Soft and Buttery – These cookies have a tender texture with just the right amount of sweetness.
- Kid-Friendly – A great baking project to do with kids since they’ll love cutting out shapes and decorating.
- Perfect for Parties – Ideal for Halloween gatherings, bake sales, or gifting to friends and neighbors.
- Make Ahead Friendly – The dough can be made in advance, so you can bake and decorate when it’s convenient.
Ingredients
Cookies
- All Purpose Flour. Plain flour, not self-rising.
- Butter. Unsalted butter softened to room temperature.
- Sugar. White, granulated sugar.
- Eggs. Large eggs.
- Vanilla Extract. Pure vanilla is recommended for baking.
Frosting
- Powdered Sugar. Sifted to remove lumps.
- Milk. Whole milk will make the frosting richer.
- Orange Food Coloring. Gives the frosting a festive Halloween look.
For the full recipe and ingredients, scroll to the bottom to the recipe card.
Variations
- Royal Icing. You can use royal icing to decorate the cookies instead of the buttercream frosting. Feel free to also use gel food coloring or liquid food coloring.
- Different shapes. This recipe can easily be adapted to other shapes. The options for cookie cutters are endless.
- Sprinkles. Top with sugar sprinkles or a mixture of Halloween sprinkles instead of decorating the face. Just make sure to do this before the orange frosting sets or they will not stick.
- Candy faces. Skip the black icing and use candy eyes for the face and green M&M’s for the stem.
- Sandwich cookies. Add icing in between two of these cookies to make a festive Halloween cookie sandwich.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1 – In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then set aside the bowl.
Step 2 – In a separate bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until creamy and light and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla extract.
Step 3 – Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined with a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
Step 4 – Roll out sugar cookie dough balls onto a lightly floured surface. Then use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
Step 5 – Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a metal spatula move the cut out cookies to the parchment lined cookie sheet. Then bake cookies for about 7 minutes.
Step 6 – Place cookies on a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Step 7 – Mix all the frosting ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with a mixer.
Step 8 – Place approximately ¼ of the icing in a small bowl. Dye this frosting black and dye the remaining frosting orange.
Step 9 – Frost each of the cookies with the orange frosting.
Step 10 – Use the piping bag to make the face on a Jack-o’-lantern onto each cookie.
Expert Tips
- Allow to cool before transferring. Let the sugar cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack. This helps prevent crumbling.
- Don’t overmix the dough. Mix only until the ingredients are combined. Overmixing can make the cookies tough.
- Moisten hands if dough is too dry. If the dough feels too dry when rolling, lightly dampen your hands and knead until it reaches the right consistency.
- Add extra flour to sticky dough. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle in a little flour. Add sparingly so you don’t make the cookies too dense.
Storage
- Room Temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Keep them in a cool, dry place.
- Refrigerator: While not required, you can refrigerate frosted cookies for up to 7 days. Let them come to room temperature before serving.
- Freezer (Unfrosted): Freeze unfrosted cookies in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before decorating.
- Freezer (Frosted): Place frosted cookies on a baking sheet in a single layer until frozen, then transfer to an airtight container with parchment paper between layers. Freeze up to 2 months.
More Fun Halloween Dessert Recipes
- Halloween Spider Cookies
- Frankenstein Rice Krispie Treats
- Jack-O-Lantern Cupcakes
- Oreo Spider Cookies
- Candy Corn Cookies
- 55 Delicious Halloween Cupcakes
If you make these Halloween Sugar Cookies, make sure to leave us a comment a star review. We love hearing from you!
Halloween Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Frosting:
- 1/3 cup Butter softened
- 4 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Orange Food Coloring
- Black Food Coloring
See how we calculate recipe costs.
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the butter with the sugar until creamy and light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time until combined. Then add in the vanilla extract. Continue mixing.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
- Divide the cookie dough into 2-3 balls.
- Roll out each of the dough balls onto a lightly floured surface until the dough is approximately ¼ inch thick. Then use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Continue this process until all the dough is formed into the cookies.
- Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a metal spatula move the cut out cookies to the parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges (just a slight change of color).
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes and then carefully move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. (About 10 minutes).
For the Frosting:
- Mix all the frosting ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with a hand held mixer or a stand up mixer.
- Place approximately ¼ of the icing in a small bowl. Dye this frosting black and dye the remaining frosting orange.
- Frost each of the cookies with the orange frosting.
- Then put the black frosting into a pipe bag fitting with a round tip and use the pipe bag to make the face on a Jack-o’-lantern onto each cookie.
- Then let the frosting dry on the cookies and then they are ready to serve and enjoy!
