These Hocus Pocus Cookies are a simple sugar cookie recipe that color with food colors. Roll them in sprinkles and add candy eyes for extra spooky fun. Your kids will love showing these off in their school lunches!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
These simple Hocus Pocus cookies look awesome and have great party appeal. You can make the cookie dough up ahead of time and even double or triple the recipe easily! There is no chilling required, just mix, shape, decorate, and bake!
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Ingredients
You can find the neon gel colorants at Walmart and Kroger in the cake mix and baking ingredients aisle. The neon colorants are more vibrant that regular green, orange, and purple.
- All Purpose flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Vanilla extract, or Almond extract
- Egg
- Candy sprinkles
- Candy eyes (or other shapes for various Holidays!)
- Neon Gel Food Colors (purple, lime green, and orange)
Full ingredient amounts and preparation instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Make Hocus Pocus Cookies
Mix up the cookie dough following the ingredients and instructions in our recipe card below. After the main batch of dough is made, divide it into three portions.
Make and Color the Dough
- Take each portion of the freshly made cookie dough and put it in a separate small bowl.
- Add one of the gel food colors to each small bowl of cookie dough. Mix in each bowl using a spoon.
Divide and Shape the Cookies
Once you have three balls of cookie dough, each colored a different color, you will be dividing them into twelve pieces. Gently roll each three color pile into one cookie ball.
- Pinch off twelve equal size portions from each colored ball of dough.
- Lay them in small piles on the baking sheet.
Decorate and Bake the Cookies
- Take each three color cookie ball and roll it in the dish of sprinkles. Lay on the cookie sheet and press down to a disc shape
- Make sure the cookie are at least 2" apart on the parchment covered baking sheet. Press in the candy eyes and bake for 12 to 13 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
Make these frosted Hocus Pocus cookies for your children, or take them to your next Halloween party. For more sweet Trick or Treats we have Mummy Brownies, Mummy Pigs in a Blanket, Halloween Snack Mix, Monster Cookie Truffles, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cookies.
Your party guest will have a spooky time at your Halloween buffet table with some savory meal favorites:
Full ingredient amounts and preparation instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
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Substitutions and Variations
You can use this cookie idea for many different Holidays. Use pastels colorants for Easter. Red, Christmas Tree Green, and Grinch (neon) Green for Christmas. Use Red, Pink, and White for Valentines, and Red, White, and Royal Blue for Fourth of July. Just change the sprinkle blend you roll the cookies in!
Equipment
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and also retain heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.
Storage
Store any leftover cookies in an ziplock bag. The can be frozen, but the black candy eye centers may bleed or weep a little when coming back to room temperature, due to condensation.
You can make the cookie dough up ahead of time and freeze it until needed.
Tips for Success
- A great tip is to make the three colored cookie balls up ahead of time and freeze them on a cookie sheet. When frozen, place them in a freezer bag and store in the freezer. Take them out an hour before baking and roll them in the sprinkle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you absolutely can. Liquid colors will not change the texture of the cookies.
Food Safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
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📖 Recipe
Hocus Pocus Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1½ cups flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- ½ cup Halloween sprinkles blend
- candy eyes
- orange gel colorant
- lime green gel colorant
- purple gel colorant
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° F. Prepare a large cookie sheet with either non stick spray, a silpat mat, or parchment paper. Set aside.
- Blend the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and then set aside.1½ cups flour, 1½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and vanilla mixing well.½ cup unsalted butter, ¾ cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing well until combined. Scrape sides and pull together into a ball. Divide the ball of cookie dough into three equal amounts.
- Place each ball of dough into separate bowls. Add purple gel colorant to one, lime green to another, and orange gel colorant to the third. Mix each bowl well until the colorant is combined well with the cookie dough.orange gel colorant, lime green gel colorant, purple gel colorant
- Take each ball of cookie dough and divide it into 12 smaller balls, all about equal size. Place balls on the cookie sheet in piles of three, one of each color.
- After diving all the dough colors, take each pile of three small colored balls and gently roll it to press the three small balls together. Roll in a bowl of Halloween sprinkles. Lay on the cookie sheet about 2" apart.½ cup Halloween sprinkles blend, candy eyes
- Press candy eyes on each cookie. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 13 minutes.
- After baking remove from oven. Let sit 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Notes
- If you are worried about getting gel color stained hands, wear a pair or disposable nitrile gloves while working with the colored cookie dough.
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