I love making these sweet and spooky Halloween Ghost Cookies for my family, and to give to friends in the neighborhood! The buttery cookies are made with just six ingredients, and white chocolate creates the perfect ghostly shrouds.
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BOO! Sorry if I startled you — I've been surrounded by these little ghosts and they're beginning to get to me! Good thing they're so delicious!
Halloween Ghost Cookies with chocolate chips are a spooky and really tasty treat to roll out this Halloween. Bring a batch to the kids' classroom for a party treat, or put them out on a platter at your own Halloween gathering.
We love making cookies together at holiday time — why not at Halloween time, too? Cute ghost cookies make All Hallows' Eve extra fun.
In a nutshell... 🐿️
- What this is: Crisp butter cookies studded with chocolate chips, then shrouded in a white chocolate coating. Add two eyes and presto! You have cute little ghosts.
- You'll love this part: The cookies are straightforward to make with just six pantry ingredients, plus white chocolate for the coating. These Halloween cookies are fun to make with kids!
- How it's made: Make the butter cookie dough and add chocolate chips. Roll, cut, and bake the cookies. Coat the cooled cookies with white chocolate, and add the eyes.
Jump to:
This is Halloween! 🎃
Though the kids are long out of the house, my husband and I still LOVE Halloween. The quantity of Halloween decorations is fairly close to that of Christmas decorations, and I have a lot of fun doing a spooky makeover inside the house as well as on the front walkway.
The holiday is also a nice excuse to buy a little too much trick-or-treat candy, and indulge ourselves with a few fun-size candy bars and candies that don't make it into our house otherwise—Mounds, Peppermint Patties, Tootsie Rolls (well, actually, my husband does keep those in the pantry!), Sugar Daddys, 100 Grand Bars, Whoppers (well, actually, I do keep those in the pantry!)
Oh, be still my sweet tooth!
When I was a kid the sweet neighbors who lived across the street gave out popcorn balls for Halloween, their own, homemade popcorn balls held together with a sticky, sweet, homemade caramel. They were so good! I think that popcorn balls may've been a popular treat in general at that time.
Of course, the era of handing out homemade treats or apples or anything not sealed in a wrapper to trick-or-treaters is long gone. However, there are still plenty of reasons to make fun Halloween treats like these spooky Ghost Cookies!
- to give to your own kids, nieces, nephews, and grandkids
- to share with your co-workers who THINK they don't like Halloween until they sink their teeth into these buttery cookies
- to set out at the Halloween party, next to the kids' punch bowl or next to the adults' spiked hot apple cider.
- to give yourself a special treat! Who says you have to share?
Why you'll love these Halloween Ghost Cookies
The first thing you'll love about Halloween Ghost Cookies is how cute they are! What a perfect Halloween cookie for kids, friends, and family at Halloween time.
Another thing to love about them is that they're easy to make. The cookie dough comes together quickly using just six ingredients. Kids will love to help with this recipe, especially cutting out the ghosts with cookie cutters or by hand.
The ghost cut out cookies are delicious, too. This Simple Butter Cookies recipe is a favorite of mine, and one that makes a cookie sturdy enough for the decorations. The cookies are lightly crisp on the outside and tender inside, full of buttery layers and tiny bits of chocolate.
Decorate the ghost cookies with melted chocolate and mini chocolate chips. Melting the white chocolate is easy to do on the stovetop or in the microwave. Use it like an icing to paint the ghost-shaped cookies and give them their ghostly shrouds.
Ready to scare up a batch of creepy, chocolate chip ghost cookies? Let's get baking!
Witchy!
Halloween Witches Hats
Use ice cream cones and cookies to make fun Halloween party treats. The hats have candy hidden inside!
🔪How to make Halloween Ghost Cookies
Ingredients:
- Butter: These are butter cookies, so use a good quality brand for the best flavor. I use Cabot, Kate's of Maine, and Kerrygold brands.
- Confectioners' sugar: This fine sugar blends so smoothly into the cookie dough, and help give them their tender texture once baked.
- Vanilla extract: A good vanilla extract is a worthwhile investment for your baked goodies. I like Nielsen-Massey brand vanilla.
- Flour: Regular, all-purpose flour is all you need for these cookies. King Arthur Baking brand flour is my go-to choice.
- Salt: A little salt in the cookie dough helps bring out all of the flavors in these cookies.
- Mini chocolate chips: The tiny-sized chocolate chips are best for these thin butter cookies. You can also use finely chopped bar chocolate.
- White chocolate: The ghostly shrouds on the cookies comes from melted white chocolate brushed over the surface. You can melt white chocolate chips or bar white chocolate.
- Vegetable shortening: Add just a little vegetable shortening to the melted chocolate to give it a shiny surface once set.
Make the cookie dough
Blend butter, sugar, and vanilla, then fold in dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Turn the dough out of the mixer, wrap it, and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
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Cut out cookies
Roll out the chilled dough, then use a sharp knife to cut out a simple ghost shape — like a tombstone shape with a rounded top. (Or use ghost cookie cutters.) Place the cutouts on a lined baking sheet and chill them for 15 minutes.
Bake the cookies
Pop the cookies into the oven and bake until they're light golden brown. Roll out, cut, and bake cookies until all the dough is used.
Melt the white chocolate
Melt the white chocolate chips with a little vegetable shortening. The chocolate should be smooth and melted.
Coat the cookies and add eyes
Use a pastry brush to spread white chocolate like an icing onto each cookie. Add mini chocolate chips for the eyes, then let the cookies rest until the chocolate is firm.
Enjoy!
Serve the cookies, or keep them wrapped for up to 3 days.
Eye spy!
Halloween Candied Apples
A new kind of candied apple! Colorful confection coatings hold lots of creepy, spooky candy eyes.
Ghost Cookies FAQs
Pour the white chocolate chips and vegetable shortening into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave them in short, 30-second bursts, stirring between each one, until they're melted and smooth. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate—doing so will make it turn hard and seize.
The simplest decoration for these Ghost Butter Cookies is to add two mini chocolate chip eyes to the melted chocolate surface. Other decorations you can try are to use candy eyes or small round candies like Red Hots or Nerds. Decorating sugar or edible sparkles can also be sprinkled over the wet chocolate, to give your ghosts a spooky shimmer!
Once the chocolate on the Ghost Cookies is set, transfer the cookies to a tightly sealed storage container. Lay sheets of wax or parchment paper between layers of cookies to prevent sticking. Keep the cookies in a room temperature location away from heat and sunlight; the cookies will last for up to a week.
Tips:
- Use the best quality butter you can afford for the spooky ghost-shaped cookies. The butter flavor really shines in these cookies, and it's worth using the good stuff.
- This recipe has two chilling times: the first one helps the dough firm up to make it easier to roll out and cut. The second chill helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking. These chills are important so be sure to include them!
- Mini chocolate chips make easy and simple eyes for ghost cookies. If you have small candy eyes, feel free to use these instead.
The Ghost Cookie recipe is below. Here are more delicious Halloween treats to make, too!
💬 Did you make and devour this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Halloween Ghost Cookies (With Chocolate Chips)
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Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
For the decorations:
- 2¼ cups white chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
- extra mini chocolate chips for the eyes
Instructions
Make the dough:
- Cream together 1 cup unsalted butter, softened and 1 cup confectioners' sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the bowl a couple of times during the mixing, it should be smooth. Add in 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract and beat the mixture on low to incorporate it.
- In a separate large bowl whisk together 2¼ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add this into the butter mixture and mix together on low speed, scraping down the bowl often, until the dough has come together.
- Add in the ½ cup mini chocolate chips and mix just until they're distributed through the dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured area. Squeeze the dough together just a couple of times so that it is smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Cut out the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The cut cookies will need to chill before baking so be sure the baking sheet can fit in your fridge.
- Unwrap the chilled dough and use a knife to cut it in half. Rewrap one of the halves and hold it in the fridge.
- Place the other half on a large piece of parchment paper. Move the dough to one side of the parchment and fold the other half of the paper over the top of the dough.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough inside the parchment to a ¼-inch thickness. (Tip: on a toothpick, measure up from the tip ¼-inch and mark it with a Sharpie. To see if your dough is at ¼ inch thickness, poke the toothpick into the dough and check it against the mark.)
- Cut the cookies out freehand by using the tip of a sharp knife: they should have a tombstone shape, with a rounded top and a straight bottom. The cookies should be about 3 inches tall and 1½ inches wide.
- (Other options are to or make a template from paper or cardstock, or to use a ghost-shaped cookie cutter.)
- Place the cookies onto the parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between them. Roll scraps together and continue cutting cookies to fill the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- If you have unused dough, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it until you're ready to roll and cut the next batch.
Bake the cookies:
- After chilling, put the cookies in the oven and bake them for about 18 minutes: check them after 15—bake the cookies only until the edges and tops have very lightly browned.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Finish rolling, cutting and baking any additional dough you have left. Let all the cookies cool.
Melt the white chocolate: 2 Methods
- Melt the 2¼ cups white chocolate chips and 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening together using one of the two methods below:
- In the Microwave: Pour the white chocolate chips and vegetable shortening into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave them in short, 30-second bursts, stirring between each one, until they're melted and smooth. It's important to not over-heat the chocolate.
- Or on the Stovetop: Pour the white chocolate chips and the vegetable shortening into the top pan of a double boiler, with water in the bottom pan. Heat the water to a simmer. Stir the chocolate until everything is melted and smooth.
Coat the cookies:
- Have a cooling rack of piece of waxed paper ready for the cookies.
- Working with one cookie at a time, use a pastry brush to brush white chocolate over the front and sides of the cookies. Leave about a ½-inch at the bottom of the cookie uncovered. Place the cookie on the rack or waxed paper.
- Use the extra mini chocolate chips for the eyes: place two mini chips on each ghost cookie.
- Continue brushing chocolate over the rest of the ghosts and adding mini chocolate chip eyes.
- Let the cookies sit until the chocolate is firm, which should only take 15 minutes or so.
Serve:
- The serve the cookies and enjoy!
To store the cookies:
- Once the chocolate on the Ghost Cookies is set, transfer the cookies to a tightly sealed storage container. Lay sheets of wax or parchment paper between layers of cookies to prevent sticking. Keep the cookies in a room temperature location away from heat and sunlight; the cookies will last for up to a week.
Notes
- This recipe has two chilling times: the first one helps the dough firm up to make it easier to roll out and cut. The second chill helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking. These chills are important so be sure to include them!
- Mini chocolate chips make easy and simple eyes for ghost cookies. If you have small candy eyes, feel free to use these instead.
Nutrition
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