These incredibly easy and utterly adorable Ghost Cookies are your secret weapon for a festive and fun Halloween treat. Imagine perfectly formed sugar cookie cups, brimming with luscious frosting, and adorned with miniature chocolate chips that transform them into cute, spooky ghosts. This recipe is designed for maximum impact with minimal effort, making it ideal for busy schedules or spontaneous party invitations.

Ghost Cookies: Your Go-To Easy Halloween Treat

Halloween is a time for spooky fun, creative costumes, and, of course, delicious treats! But let’s be honest, sometimes carving pumpkins and planning outfits can leave little time for elaborate baking. That’s where these adorable Ghost Cookies come to the rescue. This recipe is a lifesaver if you’ve found yourself scrambling to whip up something impressive for a Halloween event at the eleventh hour. Requiring just a handful of ingredients and remarkably little hands-on time, you’ll be able to create a batch of these charmingly ghoulish delights in under 30 minutes, leaving you more time to enjoy the festivities.

While the purest baking enthusiasts might prefer to craft their cookies and frosting from scratch, this recipe champions convenience without compromising on flavor or fun. We’re focusing on a streamlined approach that utilizes a high-quality sugar cookie mix and readily available store-bought frosting. This combination ensures a quick and easy process, perfect for bakers of all skill levels. Let’s dive into creating these delightful ghost cookie cups!

Ingredients for Spooky-Sweet Success

The beauty of these Ghost Cookies lies in their simplicity, utilizing accessible ingredients to create a truly enchanting treat. You won’t need an extensive grocery list or exotic items. Here’s what you’ll gather to bring your friendly cookie ghosts to life:

• Sugar Cookie Mix: This is the foundation of our cookie cups. A good quality sugar cookie mix, like Betty Crocker, provides a consistent and delicious base without the fuss of measuring and mixing multiple dry ingredients. Remember to also have on hand the additional ingredients (typically eggs, butter, and water) that your specific cookie mix calls for. For an even quicker “3-ingredient treat,” you can opt for a package of refrigerated sugar cookie dough.
• Whipped Cream Cheese or Vanilla Frosting: The creamy filling that gives our ghosts their iconic shape and delightful sweetness. A store-bought whipped cream cheese frosting offers a rich, tangy counterpoint to the sweet cookie, while a classic vanilla frosting provides a universally loved flavor. Both work beautifully for piping and creating that perfect ghost swirl.
• Mini Chocolate Chips or Black Pearl Sprinkles: These tiny additions are crucial for giving our ghost cookies their personality! Mini chocolate chips create classic, edible eyes with a pleasant chocolatey burst. Black pearl sprinkles offer a slightly more refined and uniformly round look, adding a touch of elegance to your spooky creations.

How To Craft Your Adorable Ghost Cookies: Step-by-Step

Creating these delightful ghost cookies is an enjoyable and straightforward process. Follow these easy steps to bring your Halloween treats to life, transforming simple ingredients into a festive masterpiece that’s sure to impress.

1. Bake the Cookie Cups: Begin by preparing your sugar cookie dough. If using a mix, follow the package directions precisely. For a true 3-ingredient option, pre-made refrigerated dough works wonders. Once your dough is ready, preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease a mini muffin pan. Roll small balls of dough, roughly filling each mini muffin cavity about halfway. Gently press a finger into the center of each dough ball to create a slight indentation.
2. Cool Completely: Bake your cookie cups for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges are just very lightly golden and no longer glossy. Baking time can vary based on your oven and the amount of dough, so keep a close eye on them. The key is to avoid overbaking, as this can lead to hard cookies. Immediately after removing them from the oven, use the back of a ½ teaspoon measuring spoon to gently press down the centers, deepening the “cup” shape. Allow the cookies to cool in the muffin pan for a few minutes, then carefully remove them and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. This crucial step ensures the frosting adheres perfectly.
3. Frost with Finesse: Once your cookie cups are entirely cool, it’s time to add the ghostly topping. Fit a piping bag with a small open star piping tip (a Wilton 1M swirl tip is ideal). Fill the piping bag with your chosen cream cheese or vanilla frosting. Carefully pipe a swirl of frosting into the center of each cookie cup, letting it rise slightly above the cookie to form the body of your ghost. The motion should be smooth and even for the best effect.
4. Decorate the Faces: Now for the fun part – giving your ghosts their expressions! Gently place two mini chocolate chips onto the frosting for eyes. Ensure the flat, round side of the chocolate chip is facing outwards for a clean, cartoonish look. You can also add a third chip for a mouth if you wish, creating various expressions from surprised to happy.
5. Set and Serve: Allow the frosted ghost cookies to sit undisturbed for a short while, ideally at room temperature or in the refrigerator for a few minutes. This allows the frosting to firm up slightly, ensuring that your delightful decorations stay perfectly in place and the cookie maintains its charming shape. Once set, they’re ready to be devoured!

Pro Tips for Perfectly Spooky Ghost Cookies

Even with an easy recipe, a few expert tips can elevate your baking experience and ensure your ghost cookies turn out absolutely perfect every time.

• Don’t Rush Cooling: Patience is key! If you try to remove the cookie cups from the muffin tin too soon, they might crumble or lose their shape. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan, then gently work a butter knife around the edges. A small spoon or fork can help coax them out. Alternatively, lightly pinch the edges and twist the cookie up and out with your fingers.
• Avoid Overbaking: Keep a close eye on your cookies while they bake. Sugar cookies can go from perfectly soft to hard and unpleasant very quickly. You want them just barely golden at the edges, ensuring they remain chewy and tender once cooled.
• Piping Bag Alternatives: No piping bag? No problem! You can simply spoon the frosting into a strong Ziploc bag, snip off one corner, and use that as a makeshift piping bag. While it might not create the perfect swirl, it will still allow for neat frosting application.
• Experiment with Expressions: Get creative with your ghost faces! Use different sizes of chocolate chips, or even black edible markers (food-grade pens) for more detailed eyes and mouths. A single chocolate chip can create a cyclops ghost, or a sideways chip can suggest a mischievous wink.
• Consider Homemade Frosting: If you have a little extra time and want to add a personal touch, a batch of homemade vanilla or cream cheese frosting will undoubtedly elevate the flavor profile of these cookies even further. It’s a great way to control sweetness and texture.

Creative Variations & Serving Suggestions

While these Ghost Cookies are fantastic as is, feel free to get creative and customize them to your heart’s content. You can try different cookie base flavors, such as chocolate or pumpkin spice, to add a new dimension to the spooky treat. For the frosting, consider tinting a portion with a tiny drop of food coloring to create pastel ghosts, or add a hint of almond or peppermint extract for a flavor twist. Beyond mini chocolate chips, explore other decorations like edible glitter, small candy eyes, or even tiny sprinkles for a truly unique look. Serve these delightful cookies on a festive Halloween platter, perhaps alongside a bowl of monster munch mix or a bubbling witches’ brew punch, to complete your holiday spread. They are perfect for school parties, family gatherings, or a cozy movie night with a spooky film!

Storage and Freshness

These Ghost Cookies are undoubtedly at their best when enjoyed on the same day they are made. The cookies are soft and tender, and the frosting is perfectly creamy. While they will still be delicious, after the first day, the cookies tend to firm up, and the frosting may also become a bit harder. To maintain freshness as long as possible, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days. If your frosting requires refrigeration (e.g., if you used a homemade cream cheese frosting that needs to be kept cool), store the cookies in the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature for a few minutes before serving for optimal taste and texture.

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Ghost Cookies

By Chelsea Lords

Ghost Cookies are a fun and festive Halloween treat! Made with sugar cookie cups, frosting, and mini chocolate chip “eyes,” they’re spooky and simple to make!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Servings: 40 cookie cups

Video

Equipment

• Mini muffin pan
• Piping bag with an open star piping tip (such as a 1M Wilton Swirl Tip)

Ingredients

Adjust servings: 1x | 2x | 3x

Unit system: US | Metric

• 1 (17.5-ounce) package sugar cookie mix plus ingredients called for (e.g., Betty Crocker); or 1 package refrigerated sugar cookie dough (for a true 3-ingredient treat)
• 1 (12-ounce) container cream cheese frosting or vanilla frosting, or homemade frosting
• Mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease a mini muffin pan. Prepare the sugar cookie dough according to package directions for drop cookies. Roll dough balls to fill the mini muffin pan about half full (a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon filled most of the way and rolled into a ball works well). Press into the dough with a finger to slightly indent the center.
2. Bake for 7–10 minutes or until the tops are very lightly browned and no longer glossy at the edges. (Baking time will vary based on dough quantity, so watch carefully). Avoid overbaking to prevent hard/unpleasant cookies. Remove from oven and immediately press down the centers with the back of a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon.
3. Let cool a few minutes, then begin gently coaxing them out (see Note 1 below). Use a table knife to trace around the edges and a fork to gently ease out the cookie cup. Or pinch the edges and slowly twist the cookie up and out. Once removed, you can further press down the center if desired. Let cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
4. Fit a piping bag with an open star piping tip (such as a 1M Wilton Swirl Tip). Add frosting to the bag and pipe into the (completely cooled) cookie cups to form a swirl, barely coming up out of the cookie.
5. Place 2 mini chocolate chips into the frosting to create eyes, ensuring the flat round side is facing out.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Do not let the cookie cups cool completely in the muffin tin, as they will be nearly impossible to remove. Allow them to cool for a few minutes, then carefully remove them. Work the edges with a butter knife and slowly coax the cookies out with a small spoon or fork if needed. Or use your fingers to pinch around the edges and spin the cookie up and out.

Nutrition Note: Calories provided are with the whipped cream filling. If using standard frosting as the filling, there are approximately 125 calories per cookie cup.

Storage: These ghost cookies are best enjoyed the same day they are made for optimal freshness and texture. After that, the cookies and frosting tend to harden. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrition

Serving: 40 cookie cups | Calories: 86 kcal | Carbohydrates: 16 g | Protein: 1 g | Fat: 2 g | Saturated Fat: 1 g | Cholesterol: 4 mg | Sodium: 55 mg | Potassium: 8 mg | Sugar: 11 g | Vitamin A: 11 IU | Calcium: 4 mg | Iron: 1 mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

More Spooktacular Halloween Treats

Looking for more fun and easy ideas to complete your Halloween party spread? Check out these other fantastic recipes that are sure to be a hit with both kids and adults:

• Monster Eyeballs: Creepily delightful and surprisingly simple to make.
• Halloween Oreo Balls: A classic treat with a spooky twist, perfect for no-bake fun.
• Mummy Cookies: Transform ordinary cookies into adorable mummies with minimal effort.
• Halloween Donuts: Simple glazed donuts become festive delights with a few decorative touches.
• Mummy Bark: A quick and easy chocolate bark recipe that looks spooktacular.

Did you enjoy making these festive Ghost Cookies? We’d love to hear your thoughts and see your spooky creations! Please leave a comment below and share your experience. Happy Halloween baking!