Get ready for a hauntingly delicious treat with these Nutter Butter Ghost Cookies! Perfect for Halloween, these no-bake cookies are as adorable as they are easy to make. With just a few ingredients, you can transform classic Nutter Butters into spooky little ghosts that are sure to be a hit. They’re a fun, quick way to add some Halloween spirit to your dessert table!
First published August 18, 2022. Last updated for editorial improvements and to add video on October 29, 2024.
Table of Contents
- 🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- 🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
- 📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- 🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
- 🍴Must have tools: essential equipment
- 🎥 Watch and cook: step-by-step video tutorial
- 🥫 Leftover love: how to store Nutter Butter ghosts
- Marye's Tip o' the day
- 💭 Insider tips: things to know
- 👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
- 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
- 📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
- 📖 Recipe
- Nutter Butter Ghost Cookies
- 💬 Comments
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🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- This easy, no-bake recipe uses simple ingredients and kids of all ages can be involved in making them.
- These are fabulous at class parties, in lunch-boxes. and for Halloween treats
- Did your chocolate get chunky and clumpy when you were melting it? Find out how to keep this from happening in the FAQs section.
Made with Nutter Butter peanut butter cookies, white candy melts, and candy eyes, Nutter butter ghosts are an easy Halloween dessert that's fun for the whole family!
Serve these little ghosts at your next spooky party, and you will definitely earn the title of "ghostess" with the mostest.
Don't stop with Halloween. Check out these oh-so-cute Nutter Butter Easter chicks!
🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- Peanut allergy? Swap out the Nutter Butters for another oblong cookie, like E.L.Fudge, Vienna Fingers, or Milano cookies.
- You can use homemade cookies in place of store-bought Nutter Butters. Heartier, crunchy varieties work best, like shortbread.
- Instead of white chocolate candy melts, you can use white chocolate chips thinned with a little bit of coconut oil.
- Alternatively, dip the nutter butter cookies in melted almond bark.
- You can use a small tube of black gel frosting or black sprinkles to make the ghost's eyes or spooky little ghost mouths.
- Alternate between using mini chips and regular chocolate chips to give each adorable ghost cookie some unique character. We liked the look of the candy eyes the best, however.
- Excess chocolate? Use it up this way. First, coat the entire cookie with the candy melts and let it set. Then, drizzle the white candy coating over the coated cookie and add eyes. Boo! Just like that, you have some mummy cookies to pair with your cute Nutter Butter ghosts. So much fun!
🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page. Click on the image to see it full size.
As long as you're dipping cookies in chocolate - give these Jack Skellington Oreo Pops a try. They're so cute!
Melt the white chocolate coating.
Dip the cookie in the melted coating. Don't cover the whole cookie.
Add the candy eyes while the coating is still wet.
Let set until the coating is firm and dry. Don't refrigerate!
🤫 Marye's secret for zhuzhing it up -
Sprinkle white, sparkly sugar crystals on the white chocolate while it's still wet.
zhuzh: verb. To make something more interesting or attractive
🍴Must have tools: essential equipment
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🎥 Watch and cook: step-by-step video tutorial
🥫 Leftover love: how to store Nutter Butter ghosts
Place the nutter butter ghost cookies in an airtight container, with waxed paper between the layers, until you're ready to serve them. I like to put them in a huge mason jar for easy snacking—and it serves as a festive decoration! Or, seal them in little sandwich baggies and give 'em out as party favors or to trick-or-treaters!
Properly stored, these easy Halloween treats will actually last you a few weeks! However, don't refrigerate or freeze the dipped cookies. Otherwise, they can get soft and the candy eyes will bleed—and not in a good, Halloween-y way, either!
Marye's Tip o' the day
Don't overheat your candy melts! Chocolate tends to seize up if it gets too hot (sometimes beyond repair) so follow the package directions and watch it carefully. Getting drops of water in it can also cause it to seize so make sure everything is dry and water-free.
💭 Insider tips: things to know
- Stirring your chocolate with a rubber spatula helps to prevent it from overheating. Make sure to really get to the bottom of the bowl.
- When microwaving the candy melts, follow the package instructions, or stir about every 15-30 seconds to be safe.
- It's a great idea to line cookie sheets or a baking sheet with waxed paper so that the edges of the pan prevent the nutter butter ghosts from sliding off if the pan is bumped. With kids helping out, it's better to err on the safe side than to be sorry!
- Don't place the cookies on a cooling rack to catch the excess drips, otherwise, the back of the cookie will dry with a grid imprinted on it! A sheet of parchment paper smooths out the backside of the cookie.
- It's okay to let the white chocolate drip a little—it gives the fun cookies a more ghost-like appearance!
- If your candy melts are too thick for dipping, you can use a spoon to spread the chocolate over the entire top and sides of each cookie.
- Make sure to add the eyes quickly, before the chocolate sets! Otherwise, they won't stick.
- Refrigerating the finished cookies will make the black color in the eyes smear. Don't do it!
👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!
Sure! Any similarly shaped cookie will work. Milano Cookies by Pepperidge Farms work well. Milanos are especially good if someone has a peanut allergy. Be sure to double check ingredients though!
These fun treats are so simple a skeleton could make them—and skeletons don't even have brains! The trickiest part is melting the candy melts, but even that is as simple as pressing a few buttons on the microwave and stirring a couple of times!
You can buy different flavored candy melts, but usually, the white melts are flavored like white chocolate. They're sweet and simple. Splurge a little on a better brand, like Ghirardelli, for optimal taste.
They're delicious! Nutter butter cookies are crunchy and have a smooth, peanut butter filling. The white chocolate candy melt topping is the perfect complement!
Water and chocolate don't mix well. Sometimes, a bit of moisture in your bowl or on your spatula can cause the chocolate to seize up. Other times, it happens because the chocolate melts were overheated. Either way, there isn't a great fix. It's best to start over.
Set up the doubler boiler over low heat with a little simmering water in the bottom pan. The water shouldn't touch the top bowl. Pour the candy melts into the dry bowl and use a spatula to stir them until melted and smooth. It'll take a few minutes. Make sure none of the water gets in the chocolate!
📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
I love quick and easy projects and it just doesn't get better than these adorable ghost cookies!
They'd be so cute on a Halloween party table with this pumpkin cream cheese dip and a few gingersnaps and Nilla wafers.
They're also the perfect garnish to spooky Halloween dirt cups!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Nutter Butter Ghosts for Halloween
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 12 Nutter Butter cookies, the peanut shaped ones
- 10 ounces white chocolate melts
- 24 candy eyes, or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Melt the white chocolate candy melts in the microwave on 50% powder, stirring every 30 seconds OR according to instructions on package.
- Spoon some of the melted white chocolate over the Nutter Butter cookie and let it drip down, covering the top half completely.
- Add 2 of the candy eyes while the white chocolate is still wet.
- Let set in a cool, dry place. Warning! If you put these in the refrigerator the black in the eyes will get smeary. I found this out the hard way.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to serve.
Notes
- Don't overheat your candy melts! Chocolate tends to seize up if it gets too hot (sometimes beyond repair) so follow the package directions and watch it carefully.
- It's okay to let the white chocolate drip a little—it gives the fun cookies a more ghost-like appearance!
- Make sure to add the eyes quickly, before the chocolate sets! Otherwise, they won't stick.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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Nutter Butter Ghost Cookies
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Cheryl Savage says
We are having a storytelling festival at StandingStone state Park this Saturday. I’m going to fix these to sale. Since Halloween is looming on the horizon, I think the kids will love it and it is sooo easy.
Sharon says
Where did you get candy eyes?
Marye says
You can get them at most grocery stores in the baking aisle, Hobby Lobby, or Amazon (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/3Ds4HwZ