Earlier this week I asked my Facebook fans if they had any food traditions. Since I love baking and I love tradition, it’s a natural combo for me. And every Halloween for as long as I can remember, I’ve been making these Chocolate Cat Face Cookies. The original recipe came from a newspaper clipping my mom cut out many, many years ago and they were something we made when I was younger. And I’ve been making them ever since! And last year I even won third place in a regional magazine’s recipe contest….cool! Now I make them with my own children and they are old enough to practically make them themselves. They are SOOO easy! This year my daughter helped me make them. Well, really other than putting them in and taking out of the oven, she pretty much did it all herself!
Chocolate Cat Cookies
1 box cake mix, chocolate or devil’s food flavor
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
¼ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup chocolate chips (for eyes)
1 jar red hot candies or red mini-chocolate candies such as M&Ms (for nose)–we prefer the M&Ms as they’re easier for younger children to eatMix together peanut butter, cake mix, eggs and ¼ cup water. Add more water as needed if dough is too stiff. Roll dough into 1 ½” balls. Roll ball in sugar and place on cookie sheet. Then press ball flat with bottom of a glass. Form into cat faces by pinching two ears at the top of cookie. Use a fork to form the whiskers on either side of face. Add chocolate chips for the eyes and one red hot or red chocolate candy for the nose. Bake 7-8 minutes at 325º. Makes about 55 cookies.
Just a few simple ingredients to gather.
Found these holiday mini M&M's at Wal-mart. Fun!
Use a scooper to make the cookie balls a uniform size. This one is about one-inch wide.
Roll the balls in sugar.
Flatten the cookies using the bottom of a smooth glass.
Pinch the dough to make two ears.
Use a fork to press in the whiskers.
Chocolate chips make the eyes.
Mini M&Ms for the noses.
All the cookies cooling on the racks. Be careful--they are soft and can sometimes cause "squished" faces when you take them off the baking sheet.
We love Halloween around our house and look for lots of fun ways to be creative. Most recently I’ve been finding lots of ideas on Pinterest (such a great place to collect and save ideas!). Even last weekend my 2nd grader attempted to make a combo of the cakes shown below for a decorated cake contest at a fundraiser at our school. Unfortunately, we had some issues. Mainly because I turned away for a few minutes while he was adding the licorice “hair which ended up being too close to the edge of the cake and started to crumble before we even left the house. He ended up not wanting to enter the cake (and put his name on it!) but he really did a great job with the decorating in general! And it still tasted good.
You can find a link to the instructions for this cake by clicking here.
Find the link to make this cake by clicking here.
If you’re still looking for some Halloween inspiration for weekend activities, check out a few of these that I’ve found on Pinterest. And come follow me there to keep up with all the fun additons I make—nearly daily!
Happy early Halloween and have fun with your family in the kitchen!
OMG! These look awesome! I will definitely be trying these, also the coconut version. I like to collect the holiday cookie and baking books, too; but it kind of PO’s me when I find that a lot of the recipes are repeats from years past. :{