Wow your kids with these spider web Halloween sugar cookies. They are super easy to recreate with stunning results, they’ll be a huge hit for your Halloween party.
Making royal icing cookies is surprisingly easy, and are so fun and festive. I love how you can decorate them with a simple toss of festive sprinkles, or cut our ornate shapes and designs. Either way, everyone loves them and they are always a huge hit. Today I am showing you how to use a simple technique to create these fun and spooky spider webs. And make sure to check out my patriotic red, white and blue pinwheel sugar cookies, using the same technique.
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Why you’ll love these festive cookies
- Your kids will LOVE them! They are so cool that no child can resist them.
- Super customizable – use a variety of different icing colors add in sprinkles, cut them out in different shapes.
- Always tasty – my Halloween sugar cookie recipe can be used to make any type of sugar cookie, and the royal icing recipe always comes out perfect. So you get delicious cookies that work every time!
Ingredients to make cut-out sugar cookies
If you are in a hurry, definitely use a roll of store-bought sugar cookie dough. The tried and true Pillsbury brand never lets me down. But if you would like to make cookies from scratch, I use this recipe, slightly adapted from the NY Times.
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cups unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (I’ve also heard almond extract is a delicious alternative but have only ever tried vanilla)
Step-by-step directions
If using store-bought, bake cookies according to package directions.
If making from scratch, begin by mixing flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed, till thoroughly mixed, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
Gently add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined, making sure to scrape bowl as needed so that everything gets well combined.
Separate dough into 2 balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Flatten out into a somewhat imperfect disc, so that it will chill quicker. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes till firm.
Remove 1 disc of dough at a time and unwrap. With a rolling pin, roll out dough to about ¼-inch thickness on a floured work surface. I like these rolling pins that have adjustable measuring rings.
To make the spider web designs, simply cut out round circles using a glass or round cookie cutter. Or make a mix of cookie shapes and use Halloween cookie cutters as well as circles. Gather up scraps, roll back into a ball and refrigerate if the dough has gotten too warm.
Set cookie cutouts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Make sure to leave about 1.5″ space between cookies as they will expand. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees f, till cookies are light golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack before icing. If cookies are too warm when iced, the icing will run all over and not harden.
Remove other disc from fridge and proceed to make more cookies.
How to make perfect royal icing
Getting the right consistency is crucial in the perfect royal icing, but trust me it’s not that difficult to achieve great results.
In a large bowl, add 4 cups of powdered sugar, 2 egg whites, 1 tsp of cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt. You can also add a couple of drops of vanilla extract just for flavoring. Whisk with an electric mixer or stand mixer until all ingredients are combined.
If the icing is too runny, as shown in the photo above on the left, you will add more powdered sugar. Start with ¼ cup at a time, adding no more than ½ cup. Typically, the most you will need to add is ¼ cup additional sugar to achieve the consistency on the right.
You want your icing to run in thick streams, as opposed to a quick thin stream.
Separate icing into small bowls if you want to create different colors, adding food coloring till desired color is achieved.
Icing the sugar cookies
Now comes the fun part, icing your Halloween sugar cookies! After a couple rounds of practice, I found the perfect way to apply royal icing so that I always get great results.
Start by gathering icing bottles or disposable piping bags and fill them with each different icing color.
To create really clean lines and a great looking spider web, I use two different sized piping tips, a #4 or #5 for the white icing, which will be the background of the web. I then use a smaller #2 tip for the orange and black icing, creating the thin lines of the actual web.
Begin by outlining the cookie with the white icing, then flood icing. Squeeze out a good amount of icing and push it around a bit until the entire circle is filled in to the edge of your cookie. You will use less than you think you’ll need, so start out conservatively and squeeze out more as needed.
Once the cookie is filled with white icing, immediately pipe on the web dot and circles.
Begin with a small dot in the middle (about the size of a very small pea), then pipe in 3 concentric circles. No need for them to be perfectly symmetrical or even! As you can see mine are a bit wonky and that’s okay!
Then you take a toothpick or scribe tool, and beginning at the dot, drag through the icing towards the outer edge. Don’t go about it gingerly; go ahead and place the tip all the way down in the icing and drag it through. If you try to just stay on top of the icing, it won’t create as dramatic of an effect. Continue this dragging motion all the way around until your web is complete.
Halloween cookies FAQ’s
Simply pipe in your cookie and pipe in the dot and circles offset from the center of the cookie, and drag the tool through in the same motion.
This is pretty common. If you notice that it has thickened too much, simply add some water, ½ tsp at a time, and stir. You will typically only need a teaspoon of water or less to get it loosened up a bit for piping.
Alternately, it is not uncommon to get the perfect consistency, only for it to become too runny when you add liquid food coloring. This is why I prefer gel. If your icing becomes too runny, simply stir in more powdered sugar, starting with a couple of teaspoons at a time, until you again have the correct consistency.
Expert tips for making and icing sugar cookies
- I recommend gel food coloring, as it creates a more concentrated color and does not change the consistency of the royal icing. Keep in mind that darker colors, like black and purple, will require a lot more food coloring than paler colors.
- Keep a damp paper towel on hand to wipe frosting off the tip in between each drag.
- Don’t be afraid to drag the toothpick all the way through the icing. As seen in the photo below, you will see divots in the icing, but it will spread out as it dries. This is why it is important though to immediately pipe in your lines.
- Always store the decorating tubes upside down in glasses while you are working. This keeps the icing towards the tip and always ready to go when you need it!
I hope you’ve found this recipe tutorial helpful! And even if you don’t quite feel like you’re up for decorating your Halloween sugar cookies with spider webs, know that you can always ice them and then add lots of cool sprinkles. And check out these other recipes for more Halloween fun!
Need more Halloween ideas? Check out these other festive and spooky recipes and decorating ideas!
Spider Web Halloween Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the sugar cookies
- 2.5 cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup butter unsalted, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract can also use almond extract
For the royal icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- food coloring
Instructions
To make sugar cookies
- Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed, till thoroughly mixed, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Gently add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined, making sure to scrape bowl as needed so that everything gets well combined.
- Separate dough into 2 balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Flatten out into a somewhat imperfect disc, so that it will chill quicker. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes till firm.
- Remove 1 disc of dough at a time and unwrap. With a rolling pin, roll out dough to about ¼-inch thickness on a floured work surface.
- To make the spider web designs, simply cut out round circles using a glass or round cookie cutter.
- Set cookie cutouts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Make sure to leave about 1.5″ space between cookies as they will expand. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees f, till cookies are light golden brown.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack before icing. If cookies are too warm when iced, the icing will run all over and not harden.
To make royal icing
- In a large bowl, add 4 cups of powdered sugar, 2 egg whites, 1 tsp of cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt. Whisk with an electric mixer or stand mixer until all ingredients are combined.
- If the icing is too runny, add ¼ cup of powdered sugar at a time, adding no more than ½ cup. Typically, the most you will need to add is ¼ cup additional sugar to achieve the correct consistency.
- Separate icing into small bowls if you want to create different colors, adding food coloring till desired color is achieved.
Making spider web Halloween sugar cookies
- To create really clean lines and a great looking spider web, use two different sized piping tips, a #4 or #5 for the white icing, which will be the background of the web. Use a smaller #2 tip for the orange and black icing, creating the thin lines of the actual web.
- Add icing colors to reusable icing bottles or disposable piping bags.
- Begin by outlining the cookie with the white icing, then flood icing. Squeeze out a good amount of icing and push it around a bit until the entire circle is filled in to the edge of your cookie.
- Once the cookie is filled with white icing, immediately pipe on the web dot and circles as you don't want the base color to start to harden at all. Begin with a small dot in the middle (about the size of a very small pea), then pipe in 3 concentric circles.
- Then you take a toothpick or scribe tool, and beginning at the dot, drag through the icing towards the outer edge. Continue this dragging motion all the way around until your web is complete.
John says
I made these Spider Web cupcakes for the family and everyone loved them. They turned out perfect! Thanks for the tutorial.
rona goldberg says
these are so cute! question , can i substitute the egg whites?
Andrea Howe says
Hi Rona! Great question, and yes, you can sub out egg whites for corn syrup. Here’s a recipe that looks easy enough: https://www.designeatrepeat.com/easy-sugar-cookie-icing-recipe/
Rona says
Thank you. I’m going to attempt to make these with my kids.
Susie says
I LOVE these! I can’t wait to make them with my kids.