These soft and chewy cookies are spectacularly spooky with a stark black center and colorful Halloween-inspired powdered sugar coating on the outside. This recipe is perfect for a trick-or-treat celebration when you’re short on time; chilling the dough isn’t required, so the cookies come together quickly and will be on the table in about an hour. Using both black and regular unsweetened cocoa powders give the cookies deep, balanced chocolate flavor, while the secret to the colorful coating is blitzing sanding sugar and sprinkles in a food processor until they’re powdery—no food coloring required.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr |
| Active: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 24 cookies |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (see Cook’s Note)
- 1/4 cup black cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup violet sanding sugar
- 1/4 cup flat purple sprinkles
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup orange sanding sugar
- 1/4 cup flat orange sprinkles
Instructions
- Position the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, black cocoa powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
- Combine the butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture a little at a time, beating until just combined. Set aside.
- Add the violet sanding sugar and the flat purple sprinkles to a food processor and process until dusty and the consistency of powdered sugar, scraping the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar and pulse just to combine. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside. Wipe the bowl of the food processor clean and repeat with the orange sanding sugar, orange flat sprinkles and the remaining 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar.
- Place the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Scoop heaping tablespoons of the cookie dough up and roll them into balls (you should have 24 balls). Toss 12 of the balls in the granulated sugar first, then in the purple confectioners’ sugar, coating them very generously and thoroughly. Arrange the balls about 1 inch apart on one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining 12 balls, granulated sugar and the orange confectioners’ sugar. Coat all the balls again in the purple or orange confectioners’ sugar; double coating them will enhance the color.
- Bake on the upper and lower oven racks until the cookies spread, the tops crack and the edges are firm, 14 to 16 minutes, switching the pans top to bottom about halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 24 servings |
| Calories | 213 |
| Total Fat | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 39 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 30 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 23 mg |
| Sodium | 41 mg |
Reviews
I had no problem with the dough, but made it last night, then let it sit out to room temperature a few hours before using today. Bought the black chocolate from Amazon and the sprinkles and sanding sugar from Michael’s. If I make them again, will not bake as long. I like my cookies soft, and these were just a little too done on the bottom for my liking Biggest thing – don’t use as much as the sprinkles and sanding sugar as the recipe calls for. I think I have enough left over for 2 more batches of dough (and it isn’t the cheapest to buy). One could easily get by for this number of cookies with 1/3 of the sugar mixture. I added a little more to the cookes when I changed racks in the oven. This really helped the purple ones, as the color was a little hard to see since the cookies are so dark.
I Made these and they basically spread on the entire pan and made a big sheet cookie. I’m going to try the recipe again today and chill the dough for a few hours and see if that works
Recipe is wrong, followed perfectly and was too dry to even form into balls
@Cynthia C. You’re looking for purple and orange edible confetti sprinkles. Good luck!
I have black cocoa powder. But what are flat sprinkles? Jimmies are oblong and cylindrical. Anyone make this?
Black cocoa powder is available online at several stores. You can just type it into a search engine. A number of specialty baking supply stores have it in addition to Amazon, King Arthur Baking, and others that I don’t remember. I was surprised to learn how many types there are! Have fun!
Where do you find “black cocoa powder”?