Hopefully, you won’t be too scared to make a batch of these scaredy cat cookies! Made with packaged cookie mix, chocolate buttercream, and candy pieces, these cookies are easy to assemble and truly delicious.
I love Halloween, but to be honest, I’m not a fan of the creepy, crawly, oozing food that’s popular this time of year. Perhaps I can blame it on a weak stomach, but no… just, no. I love the pumpkins, cute ghosts, fun witch hats made out of candy, and these cute Scaredy Cat cookies!
Decorated Cat Cookies
While these aren’t scary cat cookies, they certainly are cute! Black cats are a tradition around the Halloween season, so we had to incorporate them into something tasty around here. With this easy cookie recipe, we get to enjoy the festive features and our favorite candies on a chocolate frosted cookie.
Although this recipe is amazing, you’re welcome to go the fast route with store-bought chocolate icing! They’re fun and just the right amount of Halloween for me! My kids loved helping too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Semi-homemade but totally tasty. This recipe uses a cookie mix as the base, but we add a homemade frosting over the top, and together they both just taste so incredible.
- Easy to follow steps. Making and assembling this recipe is pretty easy, so you can totally grab the kids and have them help with some of the steps. Just make sure to count out the candies, or else some of your cats may be missing crucial features.
- This recipe can be doubled (or tripled). You can easily double this recipe so that there are plenty to share with friends or family at a Halloween (or cat) themed party.
DIY Cat Cookie Ingredients
For the Cookies, you will need:
Cookie mix- You will need one package of Krusteaz Butter Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix or similar for the base of this cookie recipe.
Butter– As requested on the box of the cookie mix, you will need 1/2 cup (one stick) of softened butter.
Egg– Use 1 egg to bind the dough together. This should be listed on the back of the box.
For the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, you will need:
Butter– You will need 1/2 cup (one stick) of softened butter to make the frosting rich tasting.
Shortening– Adding in 1/4 cup of shortening will give us a nice texture that’s creamy.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips– Adding in 1/2 cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips will make our frosting rich and chocolatey.
Cocoa powder– Add in another 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder for more chocolate taste and brown color for the cat cookies.
Powdered sugar– The base of the frosting is 2 cups of powdered sugar which makes it smooth and sweet.
Milk– You will need 3 tablespoons of milk to get the buttercream to the perfect consistency.
Vanilla extract– Add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to flavor the frosting well.
For the Cat decorations, you will need:
Chocolate chips– You will need 48 large chocolate chips for these cookies (regular sized choc chips). These make great pointy ears for the kitties.
Candy corns– 48 candy corn candies will give us the eyes for all of our cats.
Candy-coated chocolates– You’ll need 24 of these. You can use name brand or off-brand candies, we just used M&Ms and flipped them over, so the M wasn’t showing.
Licorice– For the kitty whiskers, you will want to use a licorice that pulls apart (like Twizzlers). Cut them into 1 inch long segments and separate them all so that there’s plenty to go around.
How to Make Scaredy Cat Cookies
Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, stir together cookie mix, butter, and egg until well blended.
Place rounded tablespoons of dough 2-inches apart onto greased/parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Bake 11-13 minutes. Cool cookies completely.
Chocolate buttercream frosting
With an electric mixer, beat butter and shortening until smooth.
Add in melted chocolate chips and cocoa powder, mixing until smooth.
Alternate mixing in powdered sugar and milk until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
Add in vanilla and mix once more.
Assembly
Spread 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate buttercream over each cookie.
Arrange candy decorations to make a cat- candy corns for the eyes, chocolate chips for the ears, round chocolate candy for the nose and pull-apart licorice ropes for the whiskers.
Once assembled, your cookies are ready to serve.
Enjoy!
SCAREDY CAT COOKIES
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 package Sugar Cookie Mix
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 egg
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cat decorations:
- 48 large chocolate chips
- 48 candy corns
- 24 round candy coated chocolates
- 2 ropes pull-apart licorice cut into 1” segments and separated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In medium bowl, stir together cookie mix, butter and egg until well blended.
- Place rounded tablespoons dough 2-inches apart onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes.
- Cool cookies completely.
- To make chocolate buttercream frosting: With an electric mixer, beat butter and shortening until smooth. Add in melted chocolate chips and cocoa powder, mixing until smooth. Alternating mixing in powdered sugar and milk until you’ve reached your desired consistency. Add in vanilla and mix once more.
- Spread 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate buttercream over each cookie. Arrange candy decorations to make a cat- candy corns for the eyes, chocolate chips for the ears, round chocolate candy for the nose and pull-apart licorice ropes for the whiskers.
- Store cookies in an airtight container.
Video
Nutrition
How long are frosted cookies good for?
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. For the best tasting results, I recommend eating them within 2 or 3 days because the candy will become stale as time progresses.
How to Melt Chocolate
Place your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring well between each until smooth. It should only take about 1-2 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the chocolate because it will seize, and at that point, there’s no going back to fix it; you just need to start all over.
HOW DO YOU SOFTEN BUTTER?
I like to soften butter by using the defrost function on my microwave. If you need the full 1/2 cup cube of butter, you can leave it in the paper wrapper, otherwise, place the amount of butter you need in a glass or porcelain bowl. I use the lowest defrost setting on my microwave and just let it run for 20 seconds. Check the butter and see how soft it is by pressing it with a rubber scraper. If it is still not soft to the touch, meaning it doesn’t indent when you press into it, let it warm for another 5-10 seconds. Watch it closely! Butter softens very quickly.
Check out these other great Halloween themed recipes!
- HALLOWEEN HOT CHOCOLATE BOMBS
- CARAMEL APPLE BARK
- PUMPKIN DINNER ROLLS
- BAKED MONSTER HALLOWEEN DONUTS
- REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER BLONDIES
- HALLOWEEN PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE PIZZA
- HALLOWEEN SPIDER WEB CAKE
- CUTE & CREEPY HALLOWEEN TREATS
- OREO OWL CUPCAKES
- PURPLE AND ORANGE HALLOWEEN SHEET CAKE
- HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
- 3-INGREDIENT REESE’S FUDGE
Made with homemade chocolate buttercream, cookie mix cookies, and topped with candy pieces these scaredy cat cookies are a perfect treat to serve up this Halloween season.
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