I can’t believe how close we are to Halloween already! These No-Bake Spider Cookies are a perfect, easy, and fast dessert for any Halloween party or event! They come together so quickly and are just about foolproof!

Assembly

I used candy eyes on these spider cookies. Halloween is the best time to use candy eyes on basically anything to turn into a monster! A very cute monster!

The legs are made from pull apart licorice. I was able to find a fruit punch flavor and used the purple (grape) for my spider legs. But any color would look cute. Black licorice would look extra creepy!

Gluten-Free Version:

Unfortunately, licorice is NOT gluten-free. I did make the cookies gluten-free by using gluten-free oats. However, my gluten-free daughter is just going to have to eat a legless spider. We were talking about what we could use instead of licorice that would look like spider legs and be gluten-free. We came up with gluten-free spaghetti noodles…LOL! But that doesn’t really solve the problem because I’m not going to eat a cookie with spaghetti noodles so it would still be a legless spider!

No-Bake Cookie Hack:

Last year I made these No-Bake Turkey Treats. In that process, I discovered that if you let the no-bake cookies cool enough to handle them, but before they harden, then you can shape the cookies. Let them cool for about 5ish minutes. You have to be careful because if you handle them too soon you could burn yourself, but if you handle them too late it will be too hard and just be cookie crumbs.

For these Spider Cookies, I decided to go ahead and drop them onto the wax paper as soon as I was done stirring together the ingredients. Then I waited about 5ish minutes and used my finger to gently shape and smooth them out so they wouldn’t look too lumpy, but be a perfect spider body.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 5 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats (use organic gluten-free oats for a gluten-free version)
• candy eyes
• pull apart licorice

Instructions:

1. Cut licorice ropes into about 2-inch sections.
2. In a saucepan add the sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk. Stir constantly and melt together over medium heat until it is to a full boil.
3. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute then remove from heat.
4. Quickly add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Stir to combine.
5. Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper. Shove the licorice sections into the cookies–four on each side for the spider legs.
6. After about 5 minutes use fingers to shape cookies into perfect circles. Add candy eyes to each spider.
7. Let finish cooling for about 10 minutes.

Have a safe and spooky Halloween!

Anna