Dark Chocolate Black Cat Cookies
Dark Chocolate Black Cat Cookies – These delicious dark chocolate cookies are decadent AND adorable for Halloween! No fancy decorating skills are required. These rich double dark chocolate cookies are topped with dark chocolate buttercream frosting.
It’s my favorite month of the year and as I was thinking about a new fun festive recipe to make, my mind immediately went to cats because my youngest is deep in her kitty obsession and wants to be a cat for Halloween again. She’s also a big fan of all things chocolatey so making some black cat cookies seemed like the perfect idea. Not only are these adorable for the kids, they are rich and decadent so the grownups will love them too!
Black food coloring, like most food coloring, is not very pleasant. These cookies are made with dark cocoa powder which helps to darken both the cookie dough and frosting, meaning you only need to add a little bit of black food coloring (or could even leave out entirely).
The decorations for these are super basic. I opted to only do big eyes and ears. Of course, if you want to enhance them, you could add a nose and mouth if you have some good piping skills (I personally do not). Instead of mixing up a bunch of frosting in different colors, I went to the craft store and picked up jumbo candy eyes and food coloring markers to color the green and yellow eyes. The ears are just made of Oreo cookies and that’s literally all you need!
To make these Dark Chocolate Black Cat Cookies, you will need:
- butter
- brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- vanilla
- dark cocoa powder
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- salt
- dark chocolate chips
- powdered sugar
- half and half
- jumbo candy eyes
- food coloring markers
- chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos)
Recipe Tips and Suggestions:
- Plan ahead. As is true with many of my cookie recipes, I like to chill the dough for at least a few hours, though, since because we want to decorate the tops of these, a slightly flatter cookie is ideal so I chill these for less time than I would my regular chocolate chip cookies.
- If you are strongly opposed to food coloring, you can either just not use it as the dark cocoa powder makes these pretty dark on its own, but you could also swap it for black cocoa powder which can be found online or at specialty baking stores.
- Both the cookies and frosting can be made in advance, but note that the candy eyes and ears will both soften after some time, so I recommend doing those closer to when you plan to serve them.
- If you want to add additional features to your kitties, you could use white chocolate chips for a nose, just turn them upside down (and color with the food color markers if desired), pipe a small mouth, and do additional details around the ears.
- If you want to enjoy these cookies during other times of the year, just skip the last decorating steps or enjoy them plain with no frosting since they are so decadent on their own!
Looking for more spooky Halloween recipes? Try these!
Bat’s Brew
Monster Sloppy Joes
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pastry Mummies
Chocolate Monster Eye Cookies
Mini Ghost Pizzas
Dark Chocolate Black Cat Cookies
Dark Chocolate Black Cat Cookies - These delicious dark chocolate cookies are decadent AND adorable for Halloween! No fancy decorating skills are required. These rich double dark chocolate cookies are also topped with dark chocolate buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- few drops black gel food coloring
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 drops black gel food coloring (or as desired)
For the cat face:
- chocolate sandwich cookies, cream filling scraped and discarded
- jumbo candy eyes (may need a 2-3 bottles depending on how many you plan to decorate
- food coloring markers
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for the cookies with a mixer. Beat in the vanilla, eggs, and black food coloring. Mix until combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and dark cocoa powder. Mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover the bowl and chill for 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Drop cookie dough in 2 tablespoons (or medium cookie scoop) onto the pan, about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes.
- Remove cookies and let cool completely before decorating.
- For the frosting, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth and combined. Add 1-2 tablespoons of half and half to smooth. Then mix in the cocoa powder, vanilla, and black food coloring. Mix again until combined. If needed, add more half and half, one tablespoon at a time to thin frosting. If desired, add more food coloring to reach your desired color. Frosting should be easy to spread, but also stable enough to hold shape.
- Spread about 1/4-inch of frosting on top of each cooled cookie. Smooth with a knife or turn the cookie gently upside down and flatten on a piece of parchment paper.
- To make the cat face, use the food coloring markers in your choice of colors to color the white area around the candy eyes.
- Discard the creme filling from each sandwich cookie, use a sharp knife to cut the cookie portions into quarters to serve as the ears.
- Place the colored eyes on each frosted cookie. For the ears, turn upside down so the top is pointed upwards and stick into the top of the cookies and push into the frosting gently. If needed, smooth some frosting over the bottom of the ear to seal it better. Serve!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 326Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 70mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 1gSugar: 28gProtein: 3g
