Orange and Black Sugar Cookies For Halloween!

Orange and Black Halloween cookies are easy and party ready! Orange isn’t the new black; it’s only half the story of this fun recipe for Halloween cookies! No cauldron or cackling required!

Halloween baked goods are just as popular as Halloween treats these days. But there are no tricks to these Halloween treats! Super cute Minty Fudge Vampire Brownies, diet-friendly Pumpkin Fluff Dip, and ingenious Candy Corn Cookies are always a hit, especially when “Boo’s and Ghoul’s” stop in for a “spell!”

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Otherworldy-orange and moonless-midnight colors are only part of the magic for this Halloween cookie recipe. They are frightfully good with no magic wand required!

Why Witches & Warlocks Love Orange And Black Cookies

• The striking orange and black Halloween cookies create a “boo-tiful” cookie for parties, get-togethers, or just to thrill the little goblins.
• No rolling or cookie cutters are involved for these Halloween cookies.
• Cocoa powder gives the “devilishly dark” half of the cookie extra chocolate pizzaz!
• Orange and black cookies are easily adaptable for Harvest Festivals or any color combination for other celebrations as well. 
• There are many creative ways to serve “phantasmic” orange and black cookies. For “howl-able” Halloween dessert ideas, see below.

Grab These Ingredients To Make Orange and Black Cookies

With this recipe, you don’t have to be crafty or clever to create crave-worthy Halloween cookies! Contrasting flavors and colors make these Halloween cookies devilishly delightful.

• Butter – Do not substitute for margarine. This recipe is best with real butter. Additionally, make sure you allow the butter to come to room temperature before using it. Room temp butter is still cool to the touch, yet your finger should be able to make an indent in the butter without sinking.
• Sugar – White Granulated
• Brown Sugar – Light brown sugar, firmly packed to remove the air trapped by the moist granules. 
• Egg – should be taken out of the fridge at the same time you grab the butter to remove the chill before mixing.
• Vanilla Extract – Always work with pure vanilla extract when you can.
• Flour – we use all-purpose flour for this Halloween cookie recipe. Use the spoon and level method to measure, or grab your kitchen scale and weigh out 120gms (1cup) and 40gms (⅓ cup).  
• Baking Soda – is used in cookie recipes to keep the dough from baking hard & flat. Check the helpful hints below to test if your baking soda is fresh.
• Kosher Salt
• Cocoa Powder – Dutched cocoa will deepen the black coloring and provide a nice chocolatey contrast to the orange/vanilla side.
• Black & Orange Food Color* – Gel works best in this Halloween cookie recipe and shouldn’t affect the flavor of Halloween treats. Check the helpful hints below if you prefer to make your own black food color.

Baker’s Tip – I suggest Americolor or Wilton gel food coloring. A little goes a long way, and won’t affect the consistency or flavor of your Halloween desserts. You can find get food color at most big box retailers and craft stores in their cake decorating section. Or buy gel food color online at Amazon .

~TidyMom

How To Make Orange and Black Halloween Cookies

Hope you didn’t put that kitchen scale away! You’ll need your stand or hand mixer, two baking sheets, a whisk, and a couple of mixing bowls. Don’t make the monster mistake of forgetting parchment paper for your Halloween cookie dough!

(full printable recipe at the end of this post)

1. Cream butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla, and beat until well combined. 
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt, then add to the wet ingredients.
3. Divide the cookie dough into two even batches. A kitchen scale is handy for this step. 
4. Mix cocoa powder and black food color into one batch, and orange food color to the other batch of cookie dough. Divide each batch of colored cookie dough into 12 even pieces. (24 total) Again, a kitchen scale is handy for this step.
5. Chill for 15 minutes; gently press together one piece of black dough with one piece of orange dough and roll into a ball. 
6. Place the dough balls on parchment-lined sheet pans with at least two inches between each ball. 
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookie edges are set.

Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Then eat, drink, and be scary!

Recipe Notes/Tips

Read the full recipe before starting to make sure you have all the ingredients and equipment to make it. Make sure everything is fresh and butter and eggs are at room temperature). This will set you up for a successful treat and make the process so much easier!

How to test the freshness of baking soda:

Put a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass bowl and add a couple of drops of white vinegar to see if it reacts. You are looking for an immediate and robust reaction with fizzing and bubbling.

You can also do the reverse by sprinkling baking soda over a teaspoon of white vinegar, looking for the same reaction.

How to make black food coloring:

Need black food color on the fly? If there isn’t time for a broomstick flight, you can conjure homemade black food coloring with equal parts blue, red, and green. You may have to adjust the red or green a bit, but adding cocoa powder helps deepen the black naturally.

I recommend using gel colorants over liquids to avoid affecting the taste or texture of the cookie dough. I like the Wilton gel in the little jars because you use and pay a bit less. If you regularly need a high-performance coloring gel for other baked goods or crafts, check out Americolor Super Black Soft Gel Paste.

How to use this Halloween cookie recipe for other themed occasions:

Simply break out your gel food coloring supplies and change up the colors. A few ideas:

• Christmas: Blue/White or Green/Red
• Valentines Day: Red/Pink or Red/Purple
• July 4th or Veterans Day: Red/Blue
• Easter Celebrations: Pastel Combinations
• St. Patricks Day: Dark/Light Green
• Graduations: Black/Blue or School Colors

Half and half cookies are always a visual treat, and the Halloween cookie recipe is easy to use to create any theme you like.

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