Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Sep 15, 2025 
The original Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies – Creepy yet delightful and frightfully delicious, this recipe makes the perfect Halloween Cookies!
Spider Cookies
Eeeeeeeeeeek! That’s what some of you may be thinking at first glance, but don’t worry. These spiders are more afraid of you than you are of them.
Especially after you find out they’re made of chewy peanut butter cookie dough and chocolate truffles. These Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies should make a break for it because once you get your hands on one, the rest are in trouble.
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Today I’m offering a twist on one of my favorite cookie combos, chocolate peanut butter cookies, in a way that will fill your heart with fright.
But these cookies are kind of cute, aren’t they? I don’t know whether to hug them, squash them… or eat them. I think I’ll go with option three.
The ORIGINAL Spider Cookie Recipe
P.S. This post was shared many years back, and now these Spider Cookies with chocolate truffles are all over the web! (See what I did there?) However, this is the original recipe that has been copied again and again, online and in printed publications.
Once you taste them, I think you’ll understand why.
Spider Cookie Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – For the perfect cookie flavor and texture. I always use unsalted butter to better control the salt content in baked goods.
- Creamy peanut butter – The distinct flavor of the cookie recipe.
- Brown sugar – For depth of flavor and sweetness.
- Granulated sugar – For sweetness and crunch.
- Vanilla extract – To round out the cookie flavor.
- Egg – To bind the dough together.
- All-purpose flour – The perfect platform for soft, chewy cookies.
- Baking powder and baking soda – To create lift while baking.
- Salt – All baked goods need a little salt.
- Chocolate truffles – I used Lindt Truffles. Howeve,r you can use any type of chocolate truffles you like.
- Semisweet chocolate chips – To pipe the spider legs.
- Candy eyes – Find these in the cake decoration section of most grocery chains.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies Notes
The center of each Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie is a Lindt (Lindor) chocolate truffle. I love the soft creamy centers, however, you can use whatever store-bought chocolate truffle candy you like best. Just make sure they measure about 1 inch across.
I make a simple peanut butter cookie dough and roll it into balls. Then I bake the balls for 10 minutes, until they form domes, and quickly pressed a cavity in each cooking before baking the rest of the way. This creates a unique round-crackly shape that’s perfect for Halloween.
Once the cookies have baked and almost cooled all the way, add a truffle to each cavity. Make sure the cookies are just barely above room temperature so the chocolate coating melts just enough to glue to the cookie. You don’t want it the melt all the way.
Then pipe chocolate legs on the Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies to make them look like spiders. Now all they need are eyes.
If we were being exact, we’d add eight eyes… but I think they look better with two. These cute Halloween Cookies are fun and festive. Plus they are so easy the kids can make them!
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Use a 1-to-1 gluten free baking mix instead of wheat flour. If the truffles are pure chocolate, this whole recipe will be gluten free!
Yes. However, as with all cookies, if you freeze them and place them in a container stacked together, they may not look as nice when you thaw them out.
You can also use mini peanut butter cups, or old-fashioned Russel Stover-style chocolates.
You can use red hot candies for eyes, or pipe little dots for eyes with colored frosting.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Spider Cookies Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 24 round chocolate truffles (I used Lindt Truffles)
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 48 candy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the softened butter and peanut butter in the mixer and beat until fluffy. Then add both sugar and beat again until fluffy. Scrape the bowl and beat in the vanilla and egg.
- In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Turn the mixer on low to slowly incorporate the flour mixture.
- Roll the cookie dough into twenty-four 1 1/2 tablespoon-sized balls and spread 12 out on each cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Quickly use a pestle to press a cavity in the middle of each cookie. Then place back in the oven and bake another 6-10 minutes, until golden.
- Meanwhile, unwrap all the chocolate truffles. Once the cookies are out of the oven, cool until almost at room temperature (but not very warm) and place a truffle in the cavity of each cookie. If the cookies are too warm, the truffle will melt. If the cookies are cool, the truffle won’t stick. (You can also wait until the cookies are completely cool, then glue the truffles in with chocolate to be safe.)
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Scoop the melted chocolate in a zip bag. Close the bag and snip off a small portion of one corner to create a hole. Pipe 8 legs on each cookie, starting from the truffle body down.
- Then use the remaining melted chocolate to glue 2 eyes onto each truffle spider. Cool until the chocolate is firm and serve.
Really easy to make! Turned out really cute.
These are great for my upcoming halloween party! I can not wait to make them!
Can you cut the truffles in half ?
Hi Joanne, Not the Lindt truffles… they are too soft on the inside to be cut in half. However, you might find another brand that is a little more firm.
Love these! Thanks for sharing!
these were a big hit at our party. i had trouble finding the candy eyes. we used round orange and green round decorating candies.
These are adorable! I know my boys would go crazy for these creepies!
My dough got very crumbly and kept wanting to fall apart. I used a very dry ecological peanutbutter with 99% peanuts. Should I have done anything different because of that?
Linda, I had the same issue :( I couldn’t properly roll a ball because dough kep fallingappart.
And do you know where in Sweden to buy candy eyes?
Cervera sell eyes that look like those in the picture :D How did your cookies turn out? I frooze my dough ;)
Your cookies are adorable. I’m going to make them today and bring them to the annual family crab dinner tonight – I’m just going to try to convert the measures to the Swedish and European system first, I hope I’ll get it right :)
Take care
//Linda
I was wondering what you used to make the hole in the middle of the cookie.
Hi Nancy, I used a pestle to press the center, but the end of a wooden spoon or spatula would work.
THese are adorable!!
I made these for a silly secret game at work “Spooked” and they turned out great! I admit, i didn’t have time to do it from scratch but I used a Betty Crocker mix. The first batch I baked for a total of 15mins and they came out crunchy. I checked the bag and it said to do it for a total of 11 and with the second batch I did that & it turned out great! I did wait for the cookies to fully cool before putting in the truffles and used the melted chocolate to “glue” them down. When I finished, I let them sit out for the night to fully set and packed them in the morning. They made it through a 30min car ride without any eyes falling off, yay!
My biggest disappointment? The Lindt bag only had 22 truffles!!! I improvised and used left over melted chocolate to make 2 “squished” spider (still so cute with the eyes though).
Yeah, I just used the pre-made dough. I had to adjust for time too, I cooked for about 6-7 minutes before pulling them out. And I didn’t have a pestle to make the dents, but the top of a can of whip cream worked just fine. :) Love the squished spider idea!
Can you use REESES Peanut butter cups???