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Fridays require something sweet, enter these Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack-O’-Lantern Cookies. Sweet milk chocolate, sandwiched between spiced brown sugar cookies, and finished with a light dusting of cinnamon sugar. There’s nothing not to love about these cookies. Perfect for both a spooky Halloween night, or an elegant Thanksgiving dinner…or just when you need a deliciously sweet chocolate filled cookie.
This is one of those Fridays that I’m so excited for.
One, it’s just been a very, very long week. Lots of good things, plenty of cooking, one afternoon/night of not feeling well (probably due to lack of sleep), so much pretty white snow, cold temperatures, and a whole slew of other things. It’s safe to say that I’m ready for the weekend…and my inbox to slow down for a couple of days.
Two, we have cookies to talk about. Delicious, cute, chocolate filled cookies, that are the quintessential autumn dessert.
I’m obsessed with these cookies and have been so excited to share them with you guys!
Aside from their major cuteness factor, these cookies are honestly so good.
The cookie itself is a brown sugar cookie that’s been spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. I wanted the cookie to really have that “spiced” flavor and taste sweet and warming with every bite. It is a fall cookie after all! That said, I didn’t include any pumpkin in my cookies. I just don’t think it’s needed every time I make a pumpkin cookie. Pumpkin often causes the cookie to turn out cakey…and I’m not the biggest fan of cakey cookies. So no pumpkin here, just pumpkin shaped!
Speaking of which, I’ve been searching unsuccessfully for the exact cookie cutter I used to make these. I wanted to give you guys the link. It’s an old Target cookie cutter, probably over five years old now. Sadly, I’m guessing it’s no longer available. Oh well, I found some just as cute ones that I really wish I had right now.
These cookie cutters are my favorite, and would make for really fun cookies. I love that each cookie would be unique. This cookie cutter would give you more of the look of my cookie, but I think they’d be just a bit bigger. Also, I have this cutter and love it, but it does not have a face. Any of these options work great! And then of course, if you already have a pumpkin cookie cutter, use that. Then just cut out eyes using a sharp knife.
Don’t stress about making the cookies look perfect either. If you’re making these for Halloween, the more messed up they are, they spookier, which is perfect.
For the filling, I knew I wanted it to be straight up milk chocolate. Sometimes you need a good dark chocolate moment in your life, and sometimes life just calls for milk chocolate…preferably melted and sandwiched between these cookies.
Today is a milk chocolate day cookie day.
Go with me on this, you will be so happy you did.
To give each cookie a little sparkle, I dusted them lightly with cinnamon sugar.
Yes, yes, yes…sugar cookies, milk chocolate, and cinnamon sugar. All things sweet, all things perfect, and everything you need out of a cookie right now. There’s even a little browned butter too.
If you’re doing cookies, you might as well do them up right, you know?
Make these tonight, make them this weekend, or maybe even for Halloween. And then maybe even again for Thanksgiving. It doesn’t matter, just make them soon. Trust me, you’ll be making batch after batch because these cookies are that good.
If you make these jack-o’-lantern cookies please 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 also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Milk Chocolate Stuffed Jack-O'-Lantern Cookies
Servings: 30 (30 cookies)
Calories Per Serving: 254 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) salted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces milk chocolate, melted
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until evenly combined. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt, beat until combined and the dough forms a ball.2. Generously flour your work surface. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure you're using enough flour or your dough will stick. Cut out the cookies using a pumpkin cookie cutter. Carefully transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cut eyes and a mouth in half the cookies using a pairing knife or cookie cutter. Cover the baking sheet and place the sheet in the freezer, freeze until firm, about 15-20 minutes. Roll out the leftover scraps, and repeat with the remaining disk of dough.3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the oven for 8-12 minutes (for soft cookies) or until just lightly golden brown. Do not over bake. Cool on the baking sheet five minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.4, Add the butter to medium pot. Allow the butter to slightly brown until it smells toasted, about 2-3 minutes. Stir often. Remove from the heat and let cool 5 minutes. Brush the butter over the top half of the cookies and then sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon sugar.5. To assemble, spread the melted milk chocolate over the half of the cookies with no face. Place the top pumpkin faced cookies over the chocolate, gently pressing to adhere. Cookies can be served immediately or let the chocolate firm up and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
*I recommend these cookie cutters.
*If you don't have a pumpkin cookie cutter, just simple cut out 3 inch circles and use a sharp pairing knife to make the eyes and mouth.
Hi, Tieghan!
I recently moved to the Denver area & am currently re-learning everything i thought i knew about baking thanks in part to the high altitude! 🫣 I know you’re also in CO, so i was wondering if i’ll need to make any h.a. adjustments to this recipe before baking or if you’ve already built them in? Many thanks for any advice! High altitude baking is no joke! 😆
Hey Anu,
Welcome to Colorado!! You can follow this recipe as written, no adjustments needed:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Woohoo! I know what i’m baking this weekend then! Thank you so, so much!! xx
Lol I hope you love the recipe!!
I think it’s great how you put your recipes out here without demanding any type of charge for it! I also think it’s not fair when people rate 0 or 1 stars just because they didn’t seem to follow the instructions. Please keep going and thank you for doing this! The cookies are truly amazing!!
Hey Vanessa,
Thanks so much for your kind message and trying so many recipes! I am so glad the cookies were enjoyed:) xT
Amazing! Love these cookies!
Is this recipe available in any of your cook books please?
Hi Lea,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for making this cookies and sharing your review, I am so glad it was enjoyed! Sorry, this recipe is only on the blog:) Have a great week! xx
These were delightful! My 8 year old daughter had two friends over for a Fall Baking Fest! We all had a blast making them and disseminating to our siblings and loved ones. Thank you!
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! 🙂 xTieghan
The most AWESOME recipe. Also makes for great gingerbread men gluten free! I love them and I had hardly any dishes to clean up afterwards. Very easy to make and smells wonderful. Thank you!!! 🙂
Hi there! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! 🙂 xTieghan
Love them I’m making general Halloween shaped cookies and this is the best recipe I’ve found for them.
Thanks so much! Enjoy! xTieghan
I love your recipes but this dough is so soft! It’s so hard to work with. I couldn’t roll it on my work surface at all, no matter how much flour I added, even rolling between parchment it was sticking. Not sure what I did wrong, but this was my second attempt and it wasn’t any better than the first time I tried. I love the idea though. I’m going to find another cookie recipe and re-do.
Hey Katie, I’m so sorry about that! Is there anything you did differently in the recipe? Let me know how I can help! xTieghan
Love these cookies! Not overly sweet. Goes great with a morning cup of coffee. If anyone is looking for a cute jack o lantern cutter SweetPrintsInc has the perfect pumpkin for the job!
Happy Thursday! So glad this recipe was enjoyed and thanks for making it! xTieghan
So far, so good! I am going to sugar dust tomorrow and assemble with the chocolate! Love these! Teighan, maybe you could get Target to produce these cookie cutters again for you! The cookies seem so nice and buttery! I cut out the Jack o Lantern faces with a small kitchen knife. It went pretty fast! Also, my cookie cutter was a 4″ and I was able to get 17 total cookie sandwiches! LOVE these. I am packaging and delivering to some special folks as a “Thank You”.
Happy Thursday! So glad this recipe was enjoyed and thanks for making it! xTieghan
hi, I’m planning on making these cookies this week for halloween on sunday, and i’m just wondering how the ginger works? did you just buy a thing of ginger and finely chop it? or is there a ginger spice?
When baking cookies it is very rare to use fresh ginger. There is a spice, it’s a powdered consistency and it’s available in most grocery stores in the spice aisle. McCormick makes it in small sized 0.9 oz containers, but you can also find Organic Ginger as well at markets like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Hope this helps!
Hey Emma! It just depends on what you have/what you can find! If you use dried ginger I would only use a little bit! xTieghan
I was able to find and order the cookie cutters from a seller on Etsy! I’m excited to try this recipe with my daughter when they arrive.
Oh how perfect! xTieghan
Hi! Iam going to try this recipe tomorrow. I’ve never baked cookies like these before, so Iam very excited for it! We do’nt have Halloween in my country, so I quess it would be just for a little Friday treat. 🙂
Hi there! I hope you love these cookies! 🙂 xTieghan
I’m going to try this recipe this weekend, so excited! Question, can you freeze the dough and bake at another time?
Hey Lisa,
Sure, that would be just fine to do! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know how it turns out! xTieghan
These are so cute. Will have to try recipe. Thanks for creating.
Thanks Liz! Let me know if you give the recipe a try:) xTieghan
Serving says 30 cookies, is that 30 sandwiches or 30 pieces so 15 sandwiches?
Hey Chelsea,
The recipe will make 15 sandwiches. I hope you love the cookies, please let me know how it turns out! xTieghan