These chocolate Halloween cookies are filled with a colorful cream cheese center and topped with colorful melted chocolate and sprinkles, making every cookie as tasty as it is festive.
We LOVE Halloween over here, and I mean LOVE it. If my husband had his way, we'd probably leave up the decorations year-round. But beyond the fun and spooky decorations is the delicious themed treats. Creepy cookies, cupcakes, chocolates, and more.
These tasty Halloween cake mix cookies are a treat recipe with a fun trick inside. Hidden away in the chewy chocolate cookies is a bursting colorful center packed with sweetness and fun.
Why This Recipe Works
- It's fun! A great change of pace from regular cookies. The filling in these was inspired by my Bloody Vampire Bite Cupcakes but made purple to look more like spooky slime.
- They're festive. Black, green, and purple are all great colors for Halloween, but it's the fun sprinkles that help make this really look festive and fun.
- They're easy to make. While they might take a little time to prep, these cookies are very easy to make. We just need to do a little mixing, rolling, and baking.
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🥘 Ingredients
Chocolate cake mix- You will need the dry mix from the inside of a box of chocolate flavored cake mix. You can use any chocolate variety.
Canola oil- Use canola oil or vegetable oil to help the cookies get the necessary fats needed to stay moist.
Eggs- These are a binding agent and will help the cookies not to fall apart.
All-purpose flour- Adding in a little more flour will help the cookie dough turn out perfectly so it holds its shape.
Black cocoa powder- This is an optional ingredient, but it does help the cookies to look darker in color and richer in flavor. I buy my black cocoa powder from Amazon.
Cream cheese- You'll need some softened cream cheese for the rich filling.
Powdered sugar- Use some powdered sugar to sweeten the filling.
Vanilla extract- This is a flavor enhancer.
Food coloring-Use gel-based food coloring for a more vibrant color.
Halloween sprinkles- Grab some of your favorite festive Halloween sprinkles and add them to the tops of the cookies when finished.
Colored candy melts- For a nice chocolate drizzle on top, you'll want to use some colored candy melts.
For specific quantities, see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make chocolate Halloween cookies with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Cream cheese filling
Prepare the cream cheese filling by mixing together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, flour, and vanilla in a medium-sized mixing bowl until smooth. This should take about 3 minutes.
Mix in a few drops of food coloring until you get your desired hue, adding in more if needed.
Drop teaspoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 2 hours or until the small cream cheese mounds are harder but still tacky to the touch.
Leave the cream cheese balls in the freezer until ready to use.
Cookies
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, cocoa powder, flour, eggs, and oil until well mixed. The dough should be thick and have the consistency of cookie dough.
Scoop the dough by the rounded two tablespoonfuls, roll it into a ball and make a well in the center with your thumb.
Place a frozen-colored piece of cream cheese into the well and then maneuver the dough around the filling so that it is well hidden. Place onto a prepared baking sheet.
Repeat until your baking sheet is full of cookies all evenly spaced about 2 inches apart.
Bake in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes.
Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once all of the cookies have been baked and cooled. Melt your green-colored candy melts until smooth.
Drizzle the green chocolate over the top of the cookies and then sprinkle on some festive Halloween sprinkles.
Let them set, and then enjoy.
🧾 Substitutions
Food coloring. You can swap out the purple filled centers for any other color if desired. Red, orange, and bright green are all great options for Halloween.
Cake mix. I used Devil's Food Cake chocolate cake mix because Devil+Halloween= Halloween win. But you can use any standard 15.25 ounce box including other flavored varieties like Red Velvet, or Yellow cake.
📖 Variations
You can omit the black cocoa powder and add black food coloring to the cookie dough if desired. This will give you the same black hue but without the special purchase.
You can divide the filling up into bowls and add a color to each one before scooping and freezing. Then the cookies will have randomized fillings inside, making them even more fun.
🍴 Recipe Tips
If you do not have or do not want to use candy melts, you can melt down white chocolate (Ghiradelli works best) and then add in non-water-based GEL food coloring to make it whatever hue you want. Liquid food coloring or food coloring that is water-based will cause the chocolate to seize.
The flour is added to the cookie dough to help make it more "shapeable," as explained in my Cherry Chip Cake Mix Cookies recipe. Not every boxed cake mix works the same, so using ¼ cup of flour helps to give the additional binder that 15-ounce boxes need. The flour is not needed if you have an 18-ounce box of cake mix.
💭 FAQs
These cookies will last about 3 to 4 days in an airtight container stored at room temperature.
Yes, you can freeze these cookies to help the chocolate on top set even faster, or you can freeze for longer storage. Simply let the chocolate set and then place them into an airtight container for up to 3 months before thawing and eating.
I recommend not placing more than 1 or 2 teaspoons of frozen cream cheese filling per cookie so that there is still enough dough to fully wrap around the cookie without leaking the filling from the inside as it bakes.
More great HALLOWEEN recipes to check out soon
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Halloween Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 box (15oz) Chocolate Cake Mix ($1.00)
- ½ cup Canola Oil ($0.24)
- 2 large Eggs ($0.16)
- ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour ($0.02)
- 2 Tablespoons Black Dutch Cocoa ($0.20)
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 4 ounces Cream Cheese, room temp ($0.99)
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar ($0.46)
- 1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour ($0.01)
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract ($0.01)
- Purple Colored Food Coloring ($0.02)
- Halloween Sprinkles ($0.21)
- 1 bag (8oz) Lime Green Colored Candy Melts ($1.98)
Instructions
- Prepare the cream cheese filling by mixing together the cream cheese, powderd sugar, flour, and vanilla in a medium sized mixing bowl until smooth. This should take about 3 minutes.
- Mix in a few drops of food coloring until you get your desired hue, adding in more if needed.
- Drop teaspoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Place baking sheet in freezer for about 2 hours or until the small cream cheese mounds are harder but still tacky to the touch.
- Leave the cream cheese balls in the freezer until ready to use.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the cake mix, cocoa powfer, flour, eggs, and oil until well mixed. The dough should be thick and have the consistency of cookie dough.
- Scoop the dough by the rounded two tablespoonsfuls rol into a ball and make a well in the center with your thumb.
- Place a frozen colored piece of cream cheese into the well and then manouver the dough around the filling so that it is wel hidden. Place onto prepare baking sheet.
- Repeat until your baking sheet is full of cookies all evenly spaced about 2 inches apart.
- Bake in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a ire rack to cool completely.
- Once all of the cookies have been baked and cooled, melt your green colored candy melts until smooth.
- Drizzle the green chocolate over the top of the cookies and then sprinkle on some festive Halloween sprinkles.
- Let set and then enjoy.
Notes
Substitutions
- Food coloring. You can swap out the purple filled centers for any other color if desired. Red, orange, and bright green are all great options for Halloween.
- Cake mix. I used Devil's Food Cake chocolate cake mix because Devil+Halloween= Halloween win. But you can use any standard 15.25 ounce box including other flavored varieties like Red Velvet, or Yellow cake.
Variations
You can omit the black cocoa powder and add black food coloring to the cookie dough if desired. This will give you the same black hue but without the special purchase. You can divide the filling up into bowls and add a color to each one before scooping and freezing. Then the cookies will have randomized fillings inside making them even more fun.Recipe Tips
- If you do not have or do not want to use candy melts you can melt down white chocolate (Ghiradelli works best) and then add in non-waterbased GEL food coloring to make it whatever hue you want. Liquid food coloring or food coloring that is water-based will cause the chocolate to seize.
- The flour is added to the cookie dough to help make it more "shapeable" as explained in my Cherry Chip Cake Mix Cookies recipe, not every boxed cake mix works the same so using ¼ cup of flour helps to give the additional binder that 15-ounce boxes need. If you have an 18-ounce box of cake mix, the flour is not needed.
- I recommend not placing more than 1 or 2 teaspoons of frozen cream cheese filling per cookie so that there is still enough dough to fully wrap around the cookie without leaking the filling from the inside as it bakes.
Storage
- These cookies will last about 3 to 4 days in an airtight container stored at room temperature.
- You can freeze these cookies to help the chocolate on top set even faster or you can freeze for longer storage. Simply let the chocolate set and then place them into an airtight container for up to 3 months before thawing and eating.
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