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Are you a candy corn lover or a hater? If you are a lover or you want a sweet treat for little trick-or-treaters, this is the cookie for you! Candy corn and peanut butter are such a great combination, and these candy corn peanut butter cookies are so much fun to make (and they taste great too!) Peanut butter, sugar, and an egg combine to make the super-easy Halloween cookie recipe. Whether you’re looking for recipes for a Halloween party or you just have candy corn to use up, this recipe is a keeper!
Soft, sweet peanut cookies are topped with candy corn candies, a treat we all know and love. Make them for a bake sale, for the kids or as a Halloween treat.
You might also like these sweet and easy candy apples, fun white chocolate candy bark, or irresistible chocolate-covered Oreos.
Why You’ll Love It
So easy to make: This recipe is really simple to make even if you don’t bake much (or ever!) You only need 4 ingredients and you can have the cookies ready in just half an hour.
They’re really tasty: Peanut butter and candy corn taste so good together and this recipe showcases this fantastic flavor pairing. It’s one of the yummiest Halloween recipes!
You can customize them: You can try another kind of candy instead of the candy corn, or just use up whatever the trick-or-treaters brought home!
Candy Corn Cookie Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Creamy peanut butter: The main ingredient in the cookies. You can use crunchy peanut butter if you prefer.
Granulated sugar: A baking staple. Use brown sugar if you prefer.
Egg: To bind the cookie dough.
Candy corns: To decorate the top of the candy corn sugar cookies.
How to Make Candy Corn Decorated Cookies
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Preheat oven and prepare a baking sheet: Preheat the oven and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Make the dough: Stir the peanut butter with the sugar in a medium bowl. Add egg and stir some more. Roll the mixture into 24 bite-sized cookie dough balls.
Bake the cookies: Arrange each dough ball on the prepared pan and bake until golden brown at the edges.
Decorate them: Press 3 candy corn pieces into the top of each cookie, then let the cookies cool completely and serve.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: This is a recipe without flour but of course that doesn’t guarantee it’s gluten-free. If you want a gluten-free version, use a gluten free candy corn. Most candy corn is already gluten-free but still processed in factories that process wheat items using shared equipment (handy to know!) Most peanut butter is gluten-free but check the label to make sure.
Different candies: Not a candy corn lover? Use Reese’s Pieces, M&Ms or white chocolate chips instead, or just have the cookies plain.
Serving Suggestions
Savory bites: This 2-ingredient vegetable platter is always popular, or you could serve up cheesy jalapeno corn dogs (in keeping with the corn theme!)
Sweet treats: Serve your candy corn cookies with puffed wheat squares and banana pumpkin muffins.
To drink: Halloween cookies are always good with Halloween eyeball punch and, for the kids, you can’t go wrong with a tall glass of homemade strawberry lemonade.
How to Store Cookies with Candy Corn
Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container or under plastic wrap on the countertop and eat within 5 days.
Freeze: You can freeze these in an airtight container for up to 3 months, adding parchment paper between each layer if stacking (so they don’t stick together).
Thaw: Defrost it in the refrigerator overnight.
Top Tips
Don’t let them burn! Once the cookies have spread out on the cookie sheet and they’re golden at the edges, they’re ready to take out of the oven. Keep an eye on them!
Add the candy corn pieces fast: You need to press the candy corn into the cookies as soon as you pull them out of the oven. This makes them stick. Don’t worry if this flattens the cookies.
Experiment with different candies: Some people love candy corn and others can’t stand it. Feel free to use different candies!
Candy Corn Cookies FAQs
Candy corn has been around for more than a century. It was invented by George Renninger, a Wunderle Candy Company employee. The Goelitz Candy Company (now Jelly Belly Candy) picked the recipe up and marketed it as chicken feed (what corn mostly was back then). It then became a penny candy and eventually was associated with Halloween. More than 35 million pounds of it is sold every year.
Sure, you can use almond butter or cashew butter. If you just aren’t keen on nuts, then you can use any cookie dough recipe you want.
Don’t do this because candy corn melts and burns.
If you like. Add some yellow food coloring to make yellow dough or orange food coloring to the dough to give it a festive orange color (or black, green or purple food coloring for a spooky Halloween look!) Uncolored dough will come out golden but if you do want to make the dough orange or another shade, go ahead. You could even add a splash of orange extract for an orange flavor.
Yes! A lot of cookie recipes call for ingredients like corn starch, flour, baking soda and salt but this one doesn’t need it. The combination of peanut butter, sugar and egg produces great cookies halfway between light and fluffy and beautifully chewy.
Peanut Butter Candy Corn Cookie Recipe
Candy Corn Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 Cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 72 candy corn
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the peanut butter, sugar and egg.
- Roll the dough into 24 small balls, about an ounce each. Arrange them on a cookie sheet about 1½ to 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will have spread out and will be browned around the edges. Immediately press 3 candy corns into the top of each cookie.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a rack to finish cooling completely.
Notes
Add the candy corn pieces fast: You need to press the candy corn into the cookies as soon as you pull them out of the oven. This makes them stick. Don’t worry if this flattens the cookies.
Experiment with different candies: Some people love candy corn and others can’t stand it. Feel free to use different candies!
Nutrition
Make candy corn peanut butter cookies as a treat for your Halloween party this year. You can make these chewy cookies with any decorations actually, if you aren’t a candy corn fan. This simple sugar cookie recipe is quick and easy to make. You just need to combine the ingredients for the cookie dough, shape the cookies, bake them, and then add the candy corn on top. Once you’ve tried this recipe you’ll want them every year.
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Candy corn peanut butter cookies? Yes, please! Such a fun Halloween treat to bake and share.
I am a huge cookie fan! I tried it and it was surprisingly good!!
The combo of candy corn and peanut butter reminds me of a candy bar but I can’t remember which one! Very tasty and so easy with just 4 ingredients.