Next Post
“I put a Spell on You” Poison Apple Martini.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Spooky Black Widow Peanut Butter Bars. Doughy buttery, peanut butter cookie base, layered with creamy peanut butter, and the most delectable, roll your eyes back good, chocolate frosting that’s rich and fudgy. They’re sweet, salty, heavy on the peanut butter, extra chocolatey, and totally decked out for Halloween. The perfect spooky treat to enjoy all October long.
It’s spooky season! I know it’s a little dorky, but I’m so excited for the Halloween season this year. I’m having so much fun creating Halloween themed desserts and drinks for the month.
I figured these would be the perfect spooky bars to kick off the month of all things spooky. Their so easy to make, delicious, and in my opinion, so cute too!
I love the little spider web and black spiders all around.
The details
I tried to keep these as simple as possible, using my favorite peanut butter bars as a base and sweet chocolate icing.
Start with the peanut cookie base. These don’t even require a mixer, just mix with a spoon and bake. So simple. As soon as the peanut bars come out of the oven, dollop them with a hefty amount of creamy peanut butter. The key is to add the peanut butter while the bars are still warm. The heat from the bars allows the peanut butter to melt into one even layer and makes spreading the peanut butter out very simple.
Now let the bars chill completely.
(spiders body with melted chocolate)
(spiders after adding the eyes and legs)
In the meantime, make the frosting.
The frosting needs to be thick and fudgy, but yet soft and almost runny. Think of a just set top that has glazed over and stiffened, but then underneath is fudgy, loose frosting.
The mix of ingredients is basic…butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk.
Now the decorating, start with the web
For the web, I used melted marshmallows and stretched the marshmallows over the set bars. It’s the easiest thing, and honestly, really fun. If you have kids, this is a fun task for them to do.
For the spiders, I used chocolate whoppers, a little melted chocolate, and some sprinkles. Now, here’s what I will say about the spiders, if you want to use small plastic spiders, go for it! Those will be really cute and people will easily be able to pick them off if they choose.
If you want to make them homemade, that’s great too, it’s just going to take a little more time. I advise you to really use the photos for guidance, but I did my best to explain the process.
Two whopper balls for the spider’s back, melted chocolate for the legs, and then a couple of candy eyes.
And that’s it! Aside from the spiders, really simple, and so fun to make! These bars are so great to enjoy all month long. Take them to your next Halloween party, and then of course…serve them up on Halloween night!
See you all tomorrow for our first Halloween cocktail of the season!
Looking for other fall soup recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Hocus Pocus Spellbook Brownies
BOO! Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Lastly, if you make these Black Widow Peanut Butter Bars be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Black Widow Peanut Butter Bars
Servings: 24 bars
Calories Per Serving: 310 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Bars
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) salted butter
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Icing
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup warmed milk
For decorating
- marshmallows
- whoopers
- candy eyes
- melted chocolate
- black or silver sprinkles
- small plastic spiders (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Stir in the brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt.3. Press/spread the dough out into the prepared dish. Transfer to the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes, until just set in the center. Remove from the oven and dollop tablespoon size spoonfuls of the peanut butter over the bars. Lightly spread the peanut butter in an even layer. Let cool completely.4. To make the frosting. Add the butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and 1/4 cup warm milk to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until smooth, adding additional warm milk until the frosting becomes thicker but still drizzly. Taste, adding more sugar if needed. Spread the frosting over the bars. Let set for 1-ish hour.5. To make the web, melt the marshmallows in the microwave on 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. Let cool 3-5 minutes and then use your hands to stretch/pull the melted marshmallow over the bars to create a spider web. Go in as many directions as possible. It will be messy, but fun! 6. To make the spiders, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the chocolate into a piping bag with a fine tip or ziplock bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe two small, 1/3 inch dots of chocolate onto the paper side by side. Place 1 whopper on each dot, then draw 2-3 legs on either side of the whoppers for the legs. Sprinkle the legs with sprinkles. Place two tiny dots on either side of 1 whopper for the eyes. Place the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes to harden, then gently peel away the spiders and place them on top of the bars. Slice and enjoy! 7. Store the bars in a cool dry place, either in the fridge or at room temp.
Hi There! Are your recipes adjusted for lower altitude bakers or are all measurements/temps/times for higher altitude? I just moved back to CO and am trying to readjust my recipes 🙂
Made these for my neighbors who all have the same birthday and happen to LOVE peanut butter. They were a success and quickly devoured. Didn’t have good luck with the marshmallow spider web like you did but they didn’t care!
Hello!!
Could you use almond butter for this recipe?
Thanks ?
Hi Katie! That should work just fine! Enjoy! xTieghan
This was an easy fun recipe to make. Everything turned out perfect…….except for the marshmallows. I just COULD NOT get the “webs” to stick to the top of the icing. They wanted to stick to everything else, but not the icing. Does anyone have any suggestions?? The spiders, however, came out so cute!!! Even the 8 and 11-year old helped make those, but those darn spiderwebs were awful. I like Andrea S idea of just piping on white chocolate next time. Thanks for this recipe and all your other recipes!!
Hi Karen! I’m so sorry about those darn webs! They can be sticky and troublesome at times. Did you let the frosting set a little bit before trying to apply the webs? xTieghan
Made this over the course of a few days. Started with the spiders and was a lot of fun to make those. I melted a bowl of chocolate put it in the ziplock and wasn’t as precise as the photos and ended up just spraying chocolate all over the bodies and did the proper 4 legs on each side. The eyeballs did not want to stay on so did all the forms with the whoppers then sprinkles then the eyeballs after it set for a bit. They came right off the parchment no problem. I came to rave about the icing. I’ve never been brave enough to do my own icing and this was fantastic. I didn’t use all the powdered sugar but it was awesome. It probably could easily be doubled as it only left a thin layer of chocolate and I used chopsticks to swirl it in with the peanut butter. The marshmellow part was a complete mess and my husband ended up being a better web maker than I but I am still cleaning that mess up today. Next time I think I’ll just do white chocolate and pipe it like the spider legs. Oh and the left over leg chocolate I circled all over the icing. I’ve made some amazingly good stuff but this is in the top spot right now. Thank you for the recipe. Everyone that’s had them is asking for it.
Hi Andrea! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it 🙂 xTieghan
I made these without the decorations. So delicious! But the frosting turned out very different than described. Mine was very soft, very light in color, and not really able to stand well at room temperature. Any idea what I may have done wrong? I know I didn’t leave out any ingredients!
Thanks! Once I get the frosting right these will be extra amazing!
Maybe your milk or other measurement was off? Was your butter too warm? Also if you mix too long it will eventually deflate.
Could you use flax eggs instead?
Hi Alex! I haven’t tried this specific recipe with flax egg, but I’m sure that would work just fine. XTieghan
I can not wait to make these. Question? Did you microwave the peanut butter first before spreading it on top of the baked portion? Thank you so much!
Hey April,
I did not, the warm cookie bottom should make the peanut butter easily spreadable. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Tieghan! These are too die for. The web was very messy to do with my four year old, but so fun and delicious.
Hi Emily! Thanks so much, so glad to hear you enjoyed them! The web does get messy! Haha. Have a great day xTieghan
Have you tried with other milks? Can I use almond?
Hey Emily,
Yes, almond milk will work well for you. I hope this recipe turns out amazing, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Would this work with GF flour?
Hey Rebecca,
Yes, you can use an equal amount of GF flour here. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Can I use natural peanut butter that is 100% peanuts, or would you recommend buying regular peanut butter? I don’t mind buying whatever works best! Thanks!
Hey Cheri,
Either will work well here! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Ooohh am SO looking forward to making these! I love making your recipes…always so fun and rewarding…the look and smiles on my families faces….???
Thanks so much, I hope you love the recipe!! xTieghan
These are perfect for my Halloween brunch, where can I find candy eyes ❤️
Hey Judith,
You should be able to find the candy eyes at your local grocery store with the holiday stuff or just order online:) I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan
Are we able to switch out the peanut butter with sunflower butter or a non-nut alternative for those who have a nut allergy?
Hey Aliyah,
Yes, that will work well for you! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
These ping the cuteness meter. I was looking for something to bring to a pumpkin carving party at my granddaughter’s house. Perfect!!
Thanks so much Jan, I hope you love the recipe!! xTieghan
Love this! I like that your spiders look like spiders, but not so spidery as to be terrifying! If that makes sense?! Xx
Thanks so much Kelly-Jane!!