Halloween shortbread cookies are buttery, crispy, melt in your mouth cookies. They are made with just 8 ingredients and make the perfect recipe perfect for Halloween!
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These Halloween shortbread cookies are buttery, easy to make, and filled with festive sprinkles. Cut them into your favorite spooky shapes for a fun holiday treat.
I love Halloween candy, but there’s nothing like homemade cookies! Halloween chocolate chip cookies are the perfect shareable treat!
For more fall recipes, try my recipe for Halloween brownies, pumpkin olive oil cake, and apple cider cookies!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You’ll only need 8 simple ingredients to make this easy Halloween shortbread cookie recipe! It’s adapted from my reader favorite shortbread cookies with chocolate chips.
- Everyone will love the buttery, melt in your mouth texture of these chocolatey shortbread cookies. Make sure to also make my white chocolate cranberry shortbread cookies for a Christmas version!
- They’re packed with mini chocolate chips and Halloween sprinkles.
- You can roll the dough into a log and slice it, or roll it out and use cookie cutters for fun shapes.
Ingredient Notes
Here are some useful notes on the ingredients.
- Butter- You need one cup (2 sticks) of unsalted room temperature butter. The butter makes the cookies rich and delicious.
- Powdered sugar- Powdered sugar gives the cookies their soft, melt in your mouth texture. Powdered sugar is sometimes called confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar.
- An egg yolk- This recipe uses 1 egg yolk. The yolk adds flavor and helps give the cookies a tender texture.
- Chocolate chips- I use mini semisweet chocolate chips. I wouldn’t recommend regular sized chocolate chips. They are big and make the cookies harder to cut out.
- Halloween sprinkles- Halloween colored sprinkles make these cookies festive and colorful!
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use salted butter in place of unsalted. If you use salted butter, you won’t need to add salt to the dough.
- Melt some chocolate and spoon it into a sandwich bag. Snip off one corner and pipe or “draw” faces on your pumpkin shaped cookies.
- Leave sprinkles out if you prefer. Add extra chocolate chips in place of sprinkles.
- Swap in toasted chopped nuts in place of some of the chocolate chips.
- I haven’t tried these without the egg yolk or with an egg yolk substitute.
Step by Step Instructions
Here are the directions on how to make and bake these Halloween shortbread.
Step 1: (Photo 1 above) Beat the butter and powdered sugar with an electric mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until fluffy.
Step 2: (Photo 2 above)Add the vanilla extract and egg yolk. Then, beat until incorporated.
Step 3: (Photo 3 above) Next, use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
Step 4: (Photo 4 above) Divide dough in half. Roll each half on sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Place each circle on a baking sheet. Cover and chill two hours.
Step 5: (Photo 5 above) Lift the parchment paper off the tray and onto the counter. Cut out the cookies and chill for 20 minutes. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes until the edges just begin to turn golden brown.
Step 6: (Photo 6 above) Let cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes then transfer them to racks to cool completely.
Expert Tips
Tip # 1: Regular chocolate chips make it a little harder to cut these cookies out. Mini chocolate chips are smaller and don’t get in the way of a knife or cookie cutter.
Tip #2: Larger metal cookie cutters work best for this dough. The sprinkles and mini chocolate chips can get in the way of smaller cookie cutters. Metal cookie cutters are generally stronger and a bit sharper.
Tip #3: You don’t need to twist and turn as you cut out the cookies. This can ruin the shape of your cookies.
Tip #4: Melt some extra chocolate chips in the microwave. Place chocolate in a plastic sandwich bag. Snip off a corner and draw or drizzle chocolate over the cooled cookies.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Chilling the dough gives the dough time to develop flavor. It also prevents the cookies from spreading too much when they bake.
Yes you can. I’d recommend adding additional mini chocolate chips in place of the sprinkles.
This cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator or at room temperature for about a week or for 1 month in the freezer. Thaw til it’s just warm enough to cut. Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month. Take frozen cookies out of the bag or container before thawing.
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
Halloween Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup (80 g) powdered sugar
- 1 large (1 large) egg yolk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups (270 g) all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- ½ cups (118 g) mini semisweet chocolate chips plus more for melting (optional)
- ⅓ cup (53 g) Halloween sprinkles* divided
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla extract, followed by the egg yolk.
- Turn the mixer to low speed. Add the flour and salt and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips followed by all but 1 tablespoon of the sprinkles.* Do not overmix.
- For slice and bake cookies, go to the next step. For cut out cookies, skip the next step and go to directions for cut out cookies.
- For slice and bake cookies: Form dough into a 10 inch log. Roll it in plastic wrap and chill for about 2 hours or until firm. After chilling, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice the cookie dough into rounds about 1/4″ in size. Place them on the prepared baking sheets about 1 ” apart. Continue to the last step.
- For cut out cookies: Divide dough in half. Roll each half out on sheets of parchment paper lightly dusted with flour. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle extra sprinkles over the dough (optional). Lightly roll the rolling pin over the dough a couple of times to set the sprinkles. Lift the dough with the parchment paper. Place each circle on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill two hours in the refrigerator. Once chilled, lift the parchment paper off the tray and place it on the counter. Run a long knife between the parchment paper and the cookie dough. Cut out the cookies with cookie cutters. Place cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Gather and gently re-roll the dough scraps once to cut out more cookies. Add these cookies to the tray and chill them along with the others before baking. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
- Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes until the edges just begin to turn golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes then transfer them to racks to cool completely.
- If you have Snoopy cookie cutters or wish to give the pumpkins faces, melt some extra chocolate chips in the microwave in 10 second bursts. Stir in between each burst until chocolate has melted. Place melted chocolate in a sandwich zip lock bag. Snip off a small part of a corner and use bag to "draw" on the cookies.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
Kim H
I followed the recipe the first time I made these and they were good but I thought they lacked flavor and sweetness. This time I used a full cup of the powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and a whole egg. They tasted much better and the texture was better. Made them with Christmas sprinkles and cut into Christmas shapes. There wasn’t a single cookie left!
Sue
Made these today, and they are delicious! I added both mini chips and Halloween sprinkles, then rolled the log in orange sanding sugar before slicing. They remind me of Mother’s Chocolate Chip Angel cookies from my childhood. Will definitely make again!
Natalie
Aww love that these remind you of cookies from your childhood, Sue! That’s the best compliment! I’ll have to try rolling mine in orange sanding sure next time. Great idea! Happy Halloween and thanks so much for your kind words and helpful feedback!
Nicki
These cookies are so buttery and melt in your mouth. The dough is not very sweet, so the chocolate chips pair perfectly with it. I love the crunch that the sprinkles add.
Natalie
Yayy so happy you enjoyed these Halloween cookies, Nicki!! Thanks so much for making them and for your comment!
Teresa
Love the recipe!! Will be making these again for Christmas!!!
Hugs,
Teresa
Natalie
Hi Teresa! I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you so much for making these cookies 🙂 Xo Natalie
Kendra
Tested these cookies 🍪 out yesterday! These turned out awesome. I will be making them again in a couple weeks.
Natalie
Thanks for making these cookies, Kendra! So happy you enjoyed them and great to know you’re planning to make them again!
Gail
Do you think I could put regular size chocolate chips in my food processor and just pulse enough to make smaller pieces?
Natalie
Hi Gail, I’ve never tried that with a food processor, but I think it should work fine. Just be careful to pulse in short bursts and check often — you want mini chip-sized pieces, not chocolate dust or paste. I think the best thing would be to carefully chop them by hand with a sharp knife. That would give you more control over the size. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you enjoy these cookies 🙂
Gail
I made these today and chopped regular size chocolate chips as you suggested. It worked well. After cutting out the cookies there was a lot of leftover dough I rolled together to cut out more cookies. Is that what you did?
Natalie
Hi Gail, Great to hear that worked well with the chocolate chips. Yes, you can re-roll the dough scraps once to cut more cookies. Just make sure to chill them before baking so they hold their shape. Hope you enjoy them!