These Chocolate Spiderweb Cookies might have been made healthier with whole wheat flour, Greek yogurt and flax seed, but they are still chewy and chocolatey-delicious. These Halloween cookies are so much fun!
I am not the best cookie or cake decorator. I am not the worst either, but I am definitely not the best.
The beauty of these cookies is that spiderwebs don't have to be perfect, right? Go ahead and mess up (like I did.) They still taste really awesome.
Not all cookies and treats have to be packed with unnecessary junk! And they can also be decorated really cute for Halloween.
And I love Halloween cookies, I mean, who doesn't?
Why You Should Make These Spiderweb Cookies
These Halloween cookies are lightened up with all wholesome ingredients but also taste super delicious. They are cute for Halloween but nothing super time consuming.
These cookies are for people like me who are too busy to make fancy desserts or treats but still want to make cute little goodies for their kids.
I promise everyone will love these cookies because they still taste decadent and delicious. I mean, who doesn't love a (lightened up) classic chocolate cookie?
Recipe Ingredients
- Whole wheat flour - This flour is a good source of protein, fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals. The only reason why I didn't use all whole wheat flour and also added some all purpose flour is because the cookies would be too dense and a little dry.
- All purpose flour - this flour is extremely versatile and can be used in many baked goods such as cookies, cakes and breads.
- Cocoa powder- I use the kind where the ingredients are only 100% cocoa powder and nothing else. I like this one.
- Ground flax seed - Due to its high fiber content, flax seeds have shown to improve digestive health and possibly relieve constipation. It has also shown to lower cholesterol levels. I use this brand.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Butter - I also use 100% grass-fed butter such as Kerrygold. Grass-fed butter contains more nutrients than regular butter and overall tastes so much better.
- Unrefined brown sugar - Refined brown sugar is simply white sugar that has had molasses added back into it. Meanwhile, whole, unrefined brown sugar undergoes less processing than white sugar, allowing it to retain some of its molasses content and natural brown color as well as nutrients. I use this one.
- Unsweetened applesauce - another staple in many baked goods. Applesauce is lower in fat and calories and because of it contains a large amount of water it always creates a moist product.
- Plain Greek yogurt - one of my favorite ingredients to bake with! I love Fage plain Greek yogurt due to its creamy texture.
- Pure vanilla extract - I like to use 100% pure vanilla extract because it just plain old tastes better! Why use imitation vanilla when you can have the real thing?
- Egg
- Powdered sugar
- Almond milk - You can use any type of milk you like here but I used unsweetened almond milk to cut back on calories, fat and dairy.
Recipe FAQ's and Expert Tips
Yes, you can. The cookies will be less dense and lighter and fluffier.
Yes, definitely! You can use ghee or coconut oil in place of the butter and 1 cup of applesauce in place of the Greek yogurt.
Yes, you can leave it out entirely or you can also use ground chia seed which also contains a good amount of protein and fiber
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Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack o Lantern Cookies from Half Baked Harvest
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Ingredients
- Cookies:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup groundflax seed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup unrefined brown sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, combine flours, cocoa powder, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
- In another medium bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until smooth. Add the applesauce, Greek yogurt, vanilla and egg. Mix well.
- Add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time to the Greek yogurt combination. Mix until combined, be careful not to over mix.
- Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased nonstick baking tray.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until browned.
- Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to col completely.
- While cookies are cooling, prepare icing by mixing powdered sugar and milk.
- Pour icing into heavy duty plastic bag (it will be thick) and carefully snip the small end of the bag.
- Squeeze icing out and make 3 concentric circles.
- Next, trace lines outside each circle to form a spider web.
Samantha
I'm so happy to have found a Halloween treat that's on the healthier side! My kids LOVED them. So cute and fun and yummy...thank you, thank you!
Matt Taylor
Awesome and creative cookie recipe, perfect for Halloween, I like that they are on the healthier side too. So yummy! 🙂
Toni
So fun and amazing cookies! My kids enjoyed making as much as eating!
Colleen (Souffle Bombay)
Supercute cookies! These are the only spiderwebs I want to be near!!
It must be fun for the boys sharing their birthdays!! One of my brothers and I are 1 day apart...we shared birthday cakes growing up unless it was a milestone birthday...then we got our own 🙂
Rose | The Clean Dish
I feel totally inspired. I am also not the best cookie decorator so this seems like a project for me!! I love how these look - they have some old school Halloween charm!
Angie | Big Bear's Wife
Cutest Spider Web Cookies ever!Happy Birthday to your guys!!! 2 years and 11 minutes apart! Wow!
Lauren @ Healthy Delicious
Happy belated to the kiddos! These cookies are so fun!
Carolyn
These are adorable. So perfect for Halloween!
lauren.kelly
Thanks Carolyn!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet
These are so cute and I'm happy to see some healthy baked goods! My 3 and 5 year olds love helping me in the kitchen, they'd have a blast making these!
lauren.kelly
My kids loved helping me Kimberly 🙂
heather @french press
SO fun! and two birthdays on one day - that must be busy 🙂 but fun too
and I love these cookies (by the way your webs look so much better than mine would)
lauren.kelly
Only a few of the spiderwebs came out looking good Heather 🙂
Arman @ thebigmansworld
Fantastic news, Lauren 🙂 That is something so many people underestimate.
These look delicious and my inner kid is dancing 😉
lauren.kelly
You ARE a kid Arman! 🙂
[email protected]+A+Mind+Full+Mom
I love how you made clean but festive cookies--these are going to be made this year at our house!!
lauren.kelly
Thanks Kristen!