Name: Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 18 cookies
Ingredients: 125 g unsalted butter, softened; 125 g smooth peanut butter; 100 g light brown sugar; 50 g caster sugar; 1 large egg; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 175 g plain flour; 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1/4 tsp fine salt; 18 mini chocolate peanut butter cups, unwrapped; 50 g semisweet chocolate, chopped; 1 tbsp edible candy eyes, for decorating

Peanut Butter Spider Cookies

Peanut-butter cookies topped with mini peanut-butter cups, chocolate legs and edible eyes.

Published October 10, 2026 · Updated October 15, 2026

18 cookies · Estimated 1 hour

Peanut Butter Spider Cookies in an illustrated Halloween setting.

Ingredients & method

Before you start: Total time is an estimate and includes the preparation and waiting described below.

Equipment: Standard kitchen tools and serving dishes; see the method for any oven, blender or piping bag needed.

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Method

Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Line two trays with parchment. Beat butter, peanut butter and both sugars until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt separately, then stir into the wet mixture.
Divide the dough into 18 balls. Arrange well apart and flatten slightly. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are set and lightly golden. Leave on the trays for 5 minutes.
Press one mini peanut butter cup into the center of each warm cookie. Let cool completely before decorating.
Melt the semisweet chocolate in short microwave bursts, stirring between bursts. Pipe eight short legs around each peanut butter cup. Attach two edible eyes with little dabs of chocolate; you may not need all the eyes. Let the chocolate set before serving.

Time the body and legs separately

Unwrap the eighteen mini cups before the cookies bake, and keep the dough portions evenly sized. The cups are pressed into warm cookies after their short tray rest, while the leg decoration waits until the cookies have cooled completely. Those two different stages help keep the body anchored without asking piped legs to sit on a hot surface.

Pipe short legs around each cup with a small opening rather than thick loops that run together. Add the eyes with small dabs of chocolate and let everything set flat. Keep the actual peanut-butter-cup and cookie ingredients visible for guests: this is a peanut-containing recipe, and choosing a decorative eye or a separate tray does not remove the peanut from its dough.

Peanut Butter Spider Cookies

Ingredients & method

Time the body and legs separately

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