These Frankenstein Sugar Cookies are soft, chewy, loaded with chocolate chips and just spooky enough for Halloween. The bright green sugar cookie dough is rolled in granulated sugar for a sparkly, slightly crackled finish, then loaded with regular and mini chocolate chips and finished with mismatched candy eyes.
I love a Halloween dessert that looks festive without requiring a ton of decorating, and these are exactly that. There’s no piping, frosting or trying to make 20 identical Frankenstein faces. The different candy eyes give every cookie its own slightly wonky monster look, while underneath all of that Halloween fun is a really good soft and chewy vanilla sugar cookie.
These are especially fun for Halloween parties, classroom treats or just something easy to bake throughout October.
Why You’ll Love These Frankenstein Sugar Cookies
They’re soft and chewy with that buttery vanilla sugar cookie flavor, but the semisweet chocolate makes them even better.
They also look impressive without actually requiring much decorating. The green dough, chocolate chips and candy eyes do all the work for you.
And I actually think the fact that none of the cookies look exactly alike is part of what makes them so cute. Mix up the sizes and placement of the eyes instead of trying to make every cookie perfect.
Getting the Perfect Frankenstein Green
The green is obviously a big part of these cookies! I recommend using gel food coloring because you can get a much richer color without adding a lot of extra liquid to the dough.
For these, I prefer a deeper, cooler Frankenstein green rather than a bright yellow or neon green. Start with a small amount and gradually add more until you get the color you want.
Keep in mind that the cookies will lighten slightly while baking, so make the raw dough a little darker than you ultimately want the finished cookies to be.
Regular + Mini Chocolate Chips
Using two sizes of semisweet chocolate chips is one of my favorite details in these cookies. The regular chocolate chips give you those larger pools of chocolate, while the minis scatter little bits of chocolate throughout the cookies. I also like reserving some of both sizes to press into the tops after baking. It makes the finished cookies look extra loaded with chocolate and lets you fill in any spots that need it.
The Mismatched Candy Eyes
Don’t overthink these! Use a combination of large and small candy eyeballs and change the placement from cookie to cookie. Give one cookie a single giant eye, another two small eyes, another one large and one small. That’s what gives them their Frankenstein monster personality.
I like pressing the eyes into the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven. The cookies are still soft enough that the eyes stick easily, and you don’t have to worry about what will happen to the candy eyes in the oven.
Recipe Tips
Don’t skip the chill time. Chilling the dough for 30–60 minutes helps control the spread so you get those thicker, softer cookies rather than thin sugar cookies. It also gives the dough a little time for all that vanilla flavor to develop.
Use a medium cookie scoop. I use about 2½ tablespoons of dough per cookie, which gives you 20 nice, substantial cookies.
Roll them in sugar. Don’t skip this step! That granulated sugar coating gives the outside that pretty sparkle and adds a little texture against the soft center.
Don’t overbake them. I bake these for about 10 minutes, just until the edges are set. They may still look a little soft in the middle when you take them out, and that’s what you want. They’ll continue to set on the hot baking sheet as they cool.
Decorate while they’re warm. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press on your reserved chocolate chips and candy eyeballs. Everything settles naturally into the warm cookie.
Gel food coloring works best. You’ll get a stronger green without adding unnecessary liquid to your cookie dough.
How to Make Your Cookies Perfectly Round
This trick is completely optional, but I use it all the time to give my cookies that bakery-style round shape.
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, place a round cookie cutter or glass that’s slightly larger than the cookie around one cookie. Gently move it in a circular motion for a few seconds. This pushes any uneven edges inward and gives you a perfectly round cookie. You have to do this while the cookies are still hot and soft, so work quickly!
How to Store Frankenstein Sugar Cookies
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. If you want to help keep them extra soft, add a slice of sandwich bread to the container. You can also freeze the baked cookies in an airtight, freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Let them thaw at room temperature before serving.
These Frankenstein Sugar Cookies are exactly the kind of Halloween recipe I love: festive enough to immediately look the part, but easy enough that you’re not spending all afternoon decorating cookies. Between the sparkly green sugar cookie, plenty of chocolate and those ridiculous little mismatched eyes, every cookie comes out a little different, and that’s half the fun.
Frankenstein Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup salted butter melted, room temperature. you can use unsalted if you prefer
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp whole milk room temperature
- 1 egg room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp corn starch
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- green gel food coloring
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- ¼ cup granulated sugar for rolling
For the toppings:
- ⅓ cup semi -sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- candy eye balls
Instructions
- Add the butter, granulated sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl and mix until combined. Add the milk and egg and mix on low until combined. Slowly add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and kosher salt.
- Add the green gel food coloring, starting with a small amount and adding more until you've reached a deep Frankenstein green. Keep in mind that the cookies will lighten slightly as they bake.
- Fold in the regular and mini semisweet chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough for 30 minutes. Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll each dough ball in the remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar. Arrange the cookies about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 9 minutes, or until the edges are just set. Don't over bake!
- Remove the cookies from the oven and while they're still warm, gently press assorted candy eyeballs and additional regular and mini chocolate chips into the tops. Mix up the size, number and placement of the eyes on each cookie. If desired, immediately use a large round cookie cutter or glass to gently scoot each warm cookie into a perfectly round shape. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.