Description
These Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack-O’-Lantern Cookies are a festive Halloween treat featuring soft, spiced sugar cookies filled with creamy milk chocolate. Perfectly shaped with playful pumpkin faces, they combine the warmth of cinnamon and nutmeg with a gooey chocolate center, making them a delightful seasonal dessert for family and friends.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
Filling and Topping
- 12 oz milk chocolate, chopped or chocolate bars
- Cinnamon sugar (for dusting)
Instructions
- Prepare the Dough: In a large bowl, beat the unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy, which should take about 2 to 3 minutes. Next, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then mix in the vanilla extract until everything is well combined.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and salt. Gradually incorporate these dry ingredients into the wet butter mixture, mixing until a cohesive dough forms. Divide the dough into two portions, wrap each in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until firm enough to handle.
- Cut the Cookies: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of the chilled dough to approximately ¼-inch thickness. Using a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible. For half of these, create classic Jack-O’-Lantern faces by carefully cutting out eyes, nose, and mouth shapes using a small knife or specialty cutters.
- Assemble the Cookies: Place the solid (uncut) pumpkin cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Center a piece of chopped milk chocolate or a small chocolate bar segment on each cookie. Then, gently place the Jack-O’-Lantern cut-out cookies on top, pressing the edges together firmly to seal the chocolate inside.
- Bake the Cookies: Bake the assembled cookies in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges turn lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately dust the cookies with cinnamon sugar. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make sure the dough is well chilled before rolling and cutting to prevent cookies from spreading too much during baking.
- Press the edges firmly when sealing the top cookie to prevent the chocolate from leaking out while baking.
- If you don’t have pumpkin-shaped cookie cutters, use any round or festive-shaped cutters and create faces with a knife.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- For variation, you can substitute milk chocolate with dark or white chocolate pieces.
