Your Halloween Party Needs These Chocolate Peanut Butter Bat Cookies

Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Besides agonizing over the details of your elaborate Rings of Power group Halloween costume, part of the allure of Oct. 31 is the excuse to eat copious amounts of sweets. Although I truly believe that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are gross, I also recognize the flavor combination of chocolate and peanut butter itself is utter perfection. (My problem is with Hershey’s texture, not the flavor, OK?) To celebrate this sacred union of flavors in a way that slides out of the oven and not out of an orange plastic sleeve, make these scrumptious five-ingredient bat-shaped cookies for Halloween.

I usually love to spend way too much time decorating things, but sometimes the occasion calls for simplicity. I wanted a cookie that had the same addictive quality that those Peanut Butter Cups have, that distinct, concentrated chocolatey-peanut butter flavor, and easily felt like Halloween without the need for any additional icings or sprinkles to get the point across. I kept the ingredient list short to ensure the intense flavor of chocolate and peanut butter remained undiluted. There’s no flour used in this recipe, and as a result, they end up being incidentally gluten-free and delicious. The dough is the consistency of modeling clay, so shaping them into festive bats is quick work, but you could also use this dough to make shapes for other occasions.

The cookie dough is the quickest part. Simply mix the smooth peanut butter with the sugar, add two ounces of melted dark chocolate and mix until homogeneous. Then mix in the salt and one room temperature egg. The mixture will be thick and smell absolutely tempting at this point. Resist the urge to spoon it into your mouth.

Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

To shape the dough into bats, you can either use a cookie cutter or shape it with your hands. If you’re cutting it out, roll out this dough about a ⅓-inch thick and then use a bat-shaped cookie cutter. If you’re shaping by hand, start with a tablespoon of cookie dough. Press it in between both palms to make a flat-ish oval shape—there’s no need to be perfect. Pressing the dough in your hands will also heat up the fats in the batter to make shaping easier. Place the oval on a parchment-lined baking sheet and use your fingertips to point the ends of the oval and turn them down slightly; it will look somewhat like a rounded diamond or a pair of lips.

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Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Use your fingertips to pinch the top and bottom into the ears and bottom of the bat. Do the same thing under each wing to get that rippled-look. I used the wide end of a chopstick to help me exaggerate the indentations and then I was able to pinch them more effectively without cracking the dough. Once you’re satisfied with the bat shape, use the small end of the chopstick to make two little eyes. Press deeply to make sure they’re distinct after baking. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes.

Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

The only thing to watch out for when mixing this dough is to make sure your ingredients are room temperature, and that you add the ingredients in order. If you add the egg too early, the dough will become very thick and it will be difficult to incorporate the melted chocolate. Luckily, there’s no gluten in this recipe, so if you have to work the dough for an extra minute or two, there’s no need to worry about tough cookies. Store them at room temperature for up to five days or freeze them after baking for up to five months.