36 Halloween Cookies to Bake This Spooky Season

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy, make ahead
• Serves: 12

Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting? Call me basic, but I'm certain it's a match made in autumn heaven. "These cakey treats start with the same batter as my recipe for pumpkin black and white cookies," former PureWow senior food editor Katherine Gillen writes, "so once you have this version down, branch out and make those too. It’s as simple as swapping the frosting."

• Time Commitment: 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, kid-friendly, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 12

Campfire, shmampfire. I'm getting my autumn s'mores fix without an open flame, thanks to these gooey cookies. "This cookie relies on graham cracker crumbs as the main dry ingredient," Gillen explains. "The result is somewhere between a regular graham cracker and one of those chewy oatmeal sandwich cookies you used to eat in grade school."

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: make ahead, crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly
• Serves: 24

And you thought Oreos were good. These soft-baked beauties are bursting with tangy cheesecake filling. "Take a bite, and the cookie will practically melt in your mouth," writes recipe creator Erin McDowell.

• Time Commitment: 3 hours and 10 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, make ahead, crowd-pleaser, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 24

Don’t want to be stressed come the night of the party? Make the eight-ingredient dough ahead of time. Then, slice and bake it just in time for your guests’ arrival.

• Time Commitment: 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 30

Could these spiced brown sugar cookies be any cuter? I think not. (It's the peek-a-boo chocolate filling for me.) The cinnamon sugar coating really takes them over the top.

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 36

Turn on a scary movie, bundle up on the couch and get ready to eat way too many monster eyes. Feel free to mix things up with different colored sanding sugar.

• Time Commitment: 40 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 48

Alexa, add five-pound bag of candy corn to my shopping cart. This autumnal spin on the classic monster cookie is loaded with Reese's Pieces too, but you could substitute any candy you'd like.

• Time Commitment: 4 hours and 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser, make ahead, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 24

A French treat with an autumnal flair that's perfect for a fancy dinner party, thanks to cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. This Halloween cookie idea is a bit more complex than the average chocolate chipper, but I promise it's worth the extra work.

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, beginner-friendly, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 15

Sweet potato casserole always felt like dessert to me anyway, so why not lean all the way in? "It's a very cakey cookie that has no egg in it," McDowell explains. "The sweet potato does the work that the egg would normally do. So it ends up being this really moist, very soft cookie."

• Time Commitment: 25 minutes (plus chilling)
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 24

I usually whip these stunners up for Christmas, but all it takes for a fall remix is using a pumpkin-shaped or leaf-shaped cookie cutter. "Instead of the extra step of making icing, you use dulce de leche," McDowell says. "You can make your own, but even I use store-bought, which is so smooth and easy to spread into a thin layer."

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, gluten free, one bowl
• Serves: 18

For when you realize you forgot to pick up dessert at the supermarket and your guests are arriving in ten, this is the ultimate lazy person's Halloween cookie. They're already dairy- and gluten-free, but recipe creator Yumna Jawad says you can try making the cookies vegan too with a flax egg. (Just combine one tablespoon flaxseed with two tablespoons water and letting it rest for five minutes.)

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy, <30 minutes
• Serves: 5

Psst: The googly eyes are vegan, since they're made from nothing but powdered sugar, corn syrup and cornstarch. For the bat wings, you can use halved cookies or gluten-free pretzels.

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, beginner-friendly, kid-friendly
• Serves: 12

The only spirits I want to be haunted by are the ones made of cream cheese frosting. The nutty, brown sugar-y cookies are also studded with crushed Brownie Brittle for good measure. Sounds boo-tiful to me (sorry).

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, gluten free, Paleo-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 16

Coconut flour cookies stuffed with homemade jelly? And they're vegan if you use agave in place of honey? That's some strange magic. (The jelly calls for frozen strawberries instead of fresh, BTW.)

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 60

Bake the easy sugar cookies, then decorate them with everything from Oreos to candy eyes to sanding sugar. These are a breeze to prepare ahead, and they'll last up to four days in an airtight container. One less thing to do on the 31st, right?

• Time Commitment: 2 hours and 15 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy, <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly, no bake
• Serves: 24

Halloween cookies have never been this cute. You only need three ingredients and a refrigerator to pull these ghoulish poppables off. Might I suggest using a mix of regular chocolate and golden Oreos for the cream chees-y filling?

• Time Commitment: 4 hours and 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 16

Eleven-minute brown butter cookies with a touch of autumn—what's not to like? Mix things up by using peanut M&M's, white chocolate chips or butterscotch chips to stud these nutty delights.

• Time Commitment: 50 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, make ahead, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 48

Spiced, classy and totally chic, this is the Morticia Addams of Halloween cookies. The dough is made with tangy cream cheese and brimming with homemade pumpkin butter, so they're just the coffee pairing for your grown-up Halloween party.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 20 to 24

Presenting a chai tea latte in Halloween cookie form. They're soft and chewy, just like classic snickerdoodles. I'd layer the vanilla bean frosting on thick if I were you, but they're already rolled in sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and allspice as it is.

• Time Commitment: 3 hours (includes resting time)
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 18

Your childhood favorite, but homemade with a fall twist. Be sure to have a glass of milk at the ready for dunking. (P.S.: If you're feeling extra lazy, you can just make the pumpkin pie filling and slather it on store-bought Oreos.)

• Time Commitment: 3 hours and 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 20

These Halloween cookies will keep for up to four months in the freezer, meaning you can celebrate spooky season through Valentine’s Day (not that they'll last past November 1). Salted peanuts or crushed pretzels would be stellar textural additions.

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser, make ahead
• Serves: 24

That's a solid way to use up all the leftover candy the trick-or-treaters didn’t devour if I've ever seen one. Any chocolate chips, Reese's Pieces or diced candy and chocolate bars are fair game, not to mention sprinkles, nuts and spices.

• Time Commitment: 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 12

Dark chocolate cocoa powder turns these decadent sugar cookies black as night, so they're just right for any Halloween function. Use both a pumpkin cookie cutter and pumpkin stamp to visually take them over the top.

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, kid-friendly
• Serves: 40

PB blossoms are a Christmas staple, but this creepy makeover makes them just right for spooky season. Trade traditional Hershey’s Kisses for peanut butter cups, then craft tiny spiders with black licorice and candy eyes.

• Time Commitment: 2 hours
• Why I Love It: make ahead, kid-friendly, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 20

The easiest way to turn your Halloween party into a real brouhaha? Serve these cookie-pretzel hybrids. They're sweet, salty and finished with your choice of peanut butter or butterscotch drizzle.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: vegan, dairy free, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 22

Because no one should have to miss out on dessert. The secret? Vegan butter and almond milk. Oh, and the dough comes together in one bowl, so you'll barely have dishes to wash once the cookies are baking. Ta-da.

• Time Commitment: 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly
• Serves: 10 to 12

I hope you aren’t afraid of the dark. These are beyond bold and indulgent, thanks to dark cocoa powder and a trifecta of chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups.

• Time Commitment: 25 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, beginner-friendly, kid-friendly
• Serves: 48

All the tart sweetness of the quintessential autumn drink, plus a kiss of gooey caramel. They’ll taste even better dunked in hot homemade apple cider (or buttered rum, if you feel like a fall cocktail).

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, gluten free, crowd-pleaser, make ahead
• Serves: 28

These almond cookies stuffed with cherry jam-spiked frosting are nothing short of divine. Splattering them with diluted food coloring gives them a devilishly delicious appearance to boot.

• Time Commitment: 55 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, beginner-friendly, make ahead, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 30

Sorry, what'd you say? I was totally distracted by these sweet, crunchy, salty cookies made with one of my favorite candy bars of all time. Don't forget to garnish them with a flourish of flaky salt.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 40

Bust out the piping bag and flex your skills ahead of the Halloween party. Festive cookie cutters do most of the heavy lifting for you in the presentation department. The rest is low-frills icing and simple decorations.

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 24

They're only as epic as their toppings, so go wild with Halloween M&Ms, peanut butter cups and orange and black sprinkles. (Bonus points for including candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins.)

• Time Commitment: 40 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, special occasion-worthy, kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 1 9-inch cookie cake

The only thing better than a bunch of small cookies is one giant one. Yes, I'm talking a Halloween cookie cake. And since the recipe calls for boxed snickerdoodle cookie mix, the dough will come together in a flash.

• Time Commitment: 55 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 12 to 14

Craving a light alternative to Halloween treats? Look no further. Whole wheat pastry flour offers nuttiness and earthy flavor to every crumb. Use a firm, sweet apple for these cookies, like Honeycrisp, Gala or Fuji.

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, make ahead, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 12 to 16

Invite your friends over for spooky season coffee—these are sure to be a hit (especially if you pair them with pumpkin spice lattes). Vanilla paste, white chocolate and your choice of pecans or walnuts make them taste like they came from a fancy cafe.

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 60

This elegant Halloween cookie is bound to impress the gals and ghouls at your annual party. The pumpkin "leaves" are drawn on with melted white chocolate and finished with a flourish of cinnamon sugar.