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Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies are made fun and festive with candy eyes and bright swirls of buttercream frosting. Boo could resist?!
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Pillsbury. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that continue to make My Baking Addiction possible.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it is almost October. I desperately want it to feel like Fall, but Mother Nature clearly has other plans. One day I’m wearing boots and a sweater and for the next five, it’s back to t-shirts and flip flops. And because it’s still hot and humid here in Ohio, I still can’t get behind baking with pumpkin quite yet, so instead, it’s Halloween allthethings.
If you visit My Baking Addiction regularly, you know that I am no stranger to shortcuts in the kitchen. Whether it be a doctored-up cake mix, jarred marinara, or chocolate chip cookies from a box, sometimes this working mama just needs a timesaver. And I know that other mamas do too. There’s nothing wrong with a shortcut now and then.
When I was approached by Pillsbury to use their new Purely Simple™ Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix in a fun recipe and participate in a Blog Hop. I just couldn’t say no. How could I possibly resist a batch of homemade treats from Aimee of Shugary Sweets? Seriously, how cute are these Snickerdoodle Blondie Bites?
And since I was sending my dessert to the talented Amanda of I Am Baker, I knew I wanted to create something fun and festive for her littles to enjoy. Five little mouths to impress is a tall order, but I think I nailed it. Be sure to check out Amanda’s recipe for Krispy Pumpkin Brownies, I can hardly handle the deliciousness!
Around here, there’s really nothing that goes over better with family than chocolate chip cookies, so having a boxed mix option without artificial colors, preservatives, or flavors is a total win in my book. Timesaver, and ingredients I know and love too.
I decided to save even a little more time by using the Pillsbury Purely Simple™ Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix to create bar cookies. I then used a small biscuit cutter to cut the cookies into perfect little circles. This step is definitely not necessary, but created a nice shape and flat top for those pretty swirls of frosting.
While these Purely Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies were perfectly delicious on their own, I decided to jazz them up a bit by adding in colorful Halloween sprinkles and pretty swirls of buttercream. However, if using food dye is not your thing, simple spirals of plain buttercream create adorable ghosts that are pretty darn boo-riffic!
Be sure to check out the complete Pillsbury Purely Simple™ line at your local supermarket and check them out on Facebook for more recipe inspiration.
Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box Pillsbury Purely Simple™ Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup festive sprinkles optional
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract this helps maintain the bright white color
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- gel food dye optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine cookie mix, butter, and egg until a soft dough is formed.
- If using, fold in sprinkles and mix until they are evenly incorporated.
- Spread cookie dough into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 23-25 minutes.
- Remove pan to wire rack and cool completely.
- Once the cookies are cool, prepare the buttercream.
For the Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter on medium-high speed for about 6 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in powdered sugar, and continue beating until well blended.
- Add in vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of milk. Blend on low speed until moistened.
- If needed, add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy; about 5 more minutes.
- If desired, use gel food dye to color the frosting.
- Spread frosting onto cookie bars, or use a small biscuit cutter to cut the cookie bars into small circles. Pipe frosting onto cookies and top with festive sprinkles.
Notes
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The nice thing about making these cookies for a friend is you get to eat all the weirdly shaped little bits that are left behind from the cookie cutters! Very cute!
bacon is the bomb
It’s WAY too hot here in So Cal for pumpkin baking so I totally feel your pain! But these Halloween cookies are ADORBS!!! Pretty sure I’m not talented enough to even make the ghosts :p but yours are perfect!
Jamie, these cookies are adorable! Seriously super cute! Using the cookie mix makes an impressive-looking cookie low maintenance. Thanks for sharing such a neat idea!
These are some legit cookies! So tall and topped off with that awesome frosting :)
These are the CUTEST!! Also, I love how went semi-homemade. Genius! And delicious. I know this for a fact. :)
These are fantastic Jamie!!! Love the festive frosting colors and sprinkles too!!