Deep, dark chocolate cookies made into the shape of ravens are perfectly spooky for a Halloween treat!
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Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door! Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.” I've been a fan of Edgar Allan Poe since I was a teenager. Now that I have a family, every October I read aloud "The Raven" as we get closer to Halloween.
I've been wanting to incorporate some black cocoa powder into my baking, and Halloween is the perfect time to do that. Black cocoa powder is a very deep chocolate baking cocoa that has a strong chocolate flavor. Plus, it imparts a dark color to your baked goods making them look black.
So between my love for Edgar Allan Poe (we even have a black cat named Edgar), and wanting to try out black cocoa powder in some baking, these raven cookies came to be.
To make these raven cookies, I used this raven cookie cutter in a 2.5" size. You can get this cookie cutter in many different sizes if you want larger (or even smaller) cookies. The 2.5" size made a nice size cookie that was about 2 bites in size, which is a nice size for a party when there are many different things to eat. If you use a large size cookie cutter, you will yield less cookies from this recipe.
This recipe makes a lot of cookies as well so they are perfect for a bringing to a party, making for a scary movie night, or for any other Halloween gathering. I put some in clear goodie bags and passed them out to some neighbors for an October treat.
These cookies use a mix of black cocoa powder (Dutch-processed) and either dark cocoa powder or regular Dutch-processed cocoa powder. The more black or dark cocoa you use, the darker the cookies will turn out. At the same time, the more use use, the less sweet and more deep chocolate flavor the cookies will have as well.
When you bake with black cocoa powder, you make a cookie that is for chocolate lovers - those who love a dark, deep chocolate flavor.
The black cocoa raven cookies were decorated in various ways using this black cookie icing. On some of the cookies I made just an eye, on some I made an eye and a wing, and on others I filled in the whole cookie with the icing. I also left some plain for people who don't like icing.
The cookie dough is not an overly sweet dough so the cookies themselves are not that sweet. The icing adds sweetness to the cookies as well as allows you to make them look more like a bird, or give them more of a shiny black color.
You can use other colors of icing, or even tiny candy eyes on these cookies. They are a great cookie to play around with to decorate how you like.
These black cocoa raven cookies would be fun to bring to a Halloween party. They are great for a movie night (like when watching "The Birds" or another spooky movie). Bring them to a book club meeting in October when you are reading a Halloween themed book.
Bring these black cocoa raven cookies to your next Halloween gathering! You can store them in an airtight container for several days.
Yield: about 8 dozen 2.5 inch cookies
Black Cocoa Raven Cookies
Deep, dark chocolate cookies made into the shape of ravens are perfectly spooky for a Halloween treat!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup Dutch-processed black cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder*
- 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in vanilla and egg. Beat in the baking powder and salt until well combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powders and flour. Add to the butter mixture and beat until combined, scraping sides as needed (Start on low speed so the flour and cocoa don't fly all over the place).
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
- Use half the dough at a time and roll it out to about 1/4" thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough using a lightly floured cookie cutter.
- Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets. Leave about 1/2" between cookies.
- Bake for about 7-9 minutes, until the edges are just set and you can smell the chocolate. Remove the cookies to a cooling rack using a thin spatula.
- Repeat until you've used all the dough (gathering up the remaining dough after cutting and re-rolling).
- Let cookies cool fully and then decorate with icing as desired. Let dry completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
*Using half black cocoa and half regular (or even dark) cocoa is recommended as the black cocoa powder has a strong flavor. You can try using all black if you desire.
Cookie recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.
I hope you give these black cocoa raven cookies a try! Let me know in the comments below.
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Check out these other Halloween cookie recipes:
Sheet Pan Halloween Confetti Cookie Bars
Dark Chocolate Black Cat Cookies
Ouija Board Planchette Cookies
Looking for more? Check out these 19 Hauntingly Fun Halloween Cookie Recipes!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Welcome to 2025’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event!
This is our 8th year doing #HalloweenTreatsWeek ... has it really been 8 years? Wow!
#HalloweenTreatsWeek is a Halloween blogging event that is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife every October. This event is an online, week-long event that is filled with some amazingly wicked Halloween treats and recipes from some fantastic Halloween-loving bloggers!
Make sure to check out all of the fun Halloween recipes that we're sharing this week!
- Mummy Chicken Pot Pies from Big Bear's Wife
- Marshmallow Ghost Dip from Semi-Homemade Recipes
- Mozzarella and Tomato Eyeball Skewers from Southern Halloween Queen
- Halloween Margarita Mocktail from Jen Around the World
- Black Cocoa Raven Cookies from Savory Moments
- Mummy Meatballs from Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Eyeball Cookies from Jolene's Recipe Journal
- Skull Gnocchi from The Spiffy Cookie
- Witch's Brew Cocktail from Art of Natural Living
- Beetlejuice Bramble from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
- Franken Berry Crumb Cake from Sweet ReciPEAs
- Beetlejuice Movie Night Snack Mix from For the Love of Food
Amy I love your raven cookies. I'm a dark chocolate lover and know I would enjoy your cookies. Karen (Back Road Journal)
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