White Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies — These Halloween cookies are PACKED with candy corn and white chocolate chips. They’re easy to make and are always a hit with the kids!
Creating These Candy Corn Cookies
Candy corn. Oh, the memories of a few pieces clanking against the bottom of my trick-or-treating bucket. On Halloween, houses that ran out of fun-sized Snickers, or so-called ‘good’ candy, used to toss out candy corn.
After seeing it recently appear in stores for the season I promptly tossed it into my cart not knowing for sure what I was going to make with it. I baked it into the most soft, tender, buttery cookie dough base in my cookie arsenal. And then I added white chocolate chips.
I used a dough base I haven’t used in about a year. It’s one I used for both my Maraschino Cherry White Chocolate Cookies and my Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies, which are cookies inspired by my Cranberry Bliss Bars. I like this dough base for recipes where I want a softer, lighter, more delicate and tender dough, and when white chocolate is involved.
This dough is slightly sweeter and creamier than my trusty chocolate chip cookie dough base. Candy corn would have been fine in that base too, but it really shines in this dough. The dough is reminiscent of Lofthouse cookie dough, minus the cake flour. It calls for 2 tablespoons of cream or half-and-half which isn’t much, but the milk really tenderizes the dough and it just melt in your mouth.
When I had previously used this base, I hadn’t yet hopped on the cornstarch bandwagon. So this time around I added two teaspoons, like I do with most of my cornstarch cookies. It helps create a softbatch-style cookie that’s so soft and supple, without turning cakey.
I had no idea my 6-year-old loved candy corn as much as she did until she went nuts over it these cookies. Growing up with more sugar in our house than in many bakeries, she’s usually pretty immune to what I make. Like me, it takes quite a bit to get her excited anymore.
After one of these she said, “Mom, I’m going to be thinking about these cookies all day tomorrow at school.”
I said, “Well sweetie if you want another one now, go for it.”
If I had a 6-year-old metabolism, I’d have seconds when fresh cookies were involved.
But she said, “No, I’d rather not so I can dream about them all day tomorrow.”
What’s in These Candy Corn Cookies?
To make this candy corn recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Cream or half-and-half
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Candy corn
- White chocolate chips
How to Make Candy Corn Cookies
To make these Halloween cookies, you’ll first need to cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture and stir until just combined, then gently fold in the candy corn and white chocolate chips.
Then, scoop out the dough. I made 20 mounds of dough, each about 2 heaping tablespoons of dough. Because the candy corn and white chocolate chips are bulky, the raw dough mounds look quite large before being baked, but in the oven and as the dough cooks down around the candy corn and chips, the cookies flatten and turn out to be of average size.
Once you’ve formed the cookie dough balls, they need to chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Once the dough has been chilled, you’re ready to bake the cookies.
I bake these candy corn cookies for just over 9 minutes. They’ll look very pale, glossy, and underdone, but they set up dramatically as they cool. Because this dough base is so buttery, baking longer than about 10 minutes could result in the undersides become overly browned.
Can I Freeze Candy Corn Cookie Dough?
Yes, absolutely! I would freeze the dough itself once rolled into mounds, and from there it will keep for probably 3 to 4 months in the freezer. You can bake the cookie dough balls from frozen (no need to thaw).
Can I Add Other Mix-Ins?
Yes, but I wouldn’t add more than 2ish cups of mix-ins total. Otherwise your cookie dough will be impossible to shape into balls.
Can I Make These Cookies Gluten-Free?
I haven’t tried that myself, so I can’t say for sure. Try making these with a gluten-free flour blend intended for baking and see how they turn out!
Can I Make These as Cookie Bars?
I haven’t tried this exact recipe as candy corn cookie bars, but I do have a recipe for Candy Corn White Chocolate M&M’s Blondies you might like.
Can I Omit the Cornstarch?
Technically, yes. However, I can’t guarantee that your Halloween cookies will turn out exactly like mine did if you omit the cornstarch. If you make these candy corn cookies without the cornstarch, please leave me a comment down below letting me know how they turn out!
Can I Scale Back the Amount of Mix-Ins?
Yes, feel free to add less chocolate chips and candy corn, if desired. I like these cookies as is, but I know everyone has different tastes, so tweak this recipe as desired.
Tips for Making Candy Corn Cookies
This is very, very important. Do NOT allow the candy corn pieces to lay directly on your baking tray and shield the candy with a pinch of dough. Candy corn is prone to burning, melting, and turning into a hot, crispy, lacey mess if baked directly on a hot tray. The candy corn that’s in the interior of the cookies should not melt or run, provided your dough was chilled before baking. After baking, it takes on a slightly chewier texture that’s scrumptious.
To make sure none of the candy corn is touching the baking tray, I simply check the bottom of the chilled cookie dough balls and push any stray candy corn pieces into the center of the dough as needed. Exposed candy corn on top of the cookie dough balls should be fine, but you don’t want any coming in contact with the hot baking tray.
Also note that you can use salted peanuts in place of the white chocolate chips. Peanuts balance out the sweet candy corn perfectly and make these Halloween cookies salty-sweet.
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White Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, soften
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 ½ cups candy corn, 10 to 11 ounces
- 1 cup white chocolate chips, or salted peanuts
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the next 5 ingredients (through optional salt), and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don’t overmix.
- Add the candy corn, white chocolate chips (or peanuts), and mix until just incorporated.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two-tablespoon mounds (I made 20). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Important note – Strategically place candy corn so that it’s not baking directly on cookie sheet because it will melt, burn, or turn runny if it is. The candy corn pieces need to be in the interior of the cookies, shielded and buffered by dough.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not overbake because cookies will firm up as they cool. Baking longer than 10 minutes could result in cookies with overly browned undersides.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Halloween Desserts:
Lofthouse Soft Sugar Sprinkle Cookies — The texture of these cookies is similar to Lofthouse-Style sugar cookies. They’re buttery soft and light, without being airy or cakey.
Candy Corn and White Chocolate Blondies — The blondies are super soft, slightly chewy, and buttery. The candy corn stays chewy after it’s baked and the contrast of the dense, moist, tender bars against the chewy candy corn is great.
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — Between the molasses, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin pie spice extract, the cookies beautifully showcase the flavors of fall.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Bars — The bars are no-bake, easy, loaded with bold peanut butter flavor, and plenty of chocolate. There’s both a layer of melted chocolate and assorted candy bar pieces adorn the top.
Chocolate Chip M&M’s Halloween Cookies — Super soft, perfectly chewy, BROWNED BUTTER cookies that are LOADED with M&M’s and chocolate chips!
Loaded Halloween Cream Cheese Brownies – Ultra fudgy, rich brownies topped with a layer of orange cream cheese, sandwich cookies, and chocolate chips!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies – Rich, fudgy brownies topped with pumpkin and chocolate chips!
Originally posted October 6, 2013 and reposted October 30, 2020 with updated text.
I am drooling looking at all those cookies!! LOVE
Thanks!
What a fantastic idea!! Love these! :)
I along with your daughter will be dreaming about these cookies today! I LOVE candy corn and am so excited when it makes its yearly appearance. I’ve never tried using corn starch in cookie recipes but will definitely experiment. Thank you for the tip! I hate cakey cookies! Love this blog!
Thanks Liz and hope you get to try these. Please LMK if you do!
Oh my gosh, I LOVE candy corn/pumpkin/all things fall, and these look perfect! I want to bake these ASAP!
I love the candy corn in there!! Such a fun recipe!
I made candy corn cookies a couple years ago and they were some of my favorites ever! I didn’t shield the pieces though, so I had some lacy, crispy, sugary pieces ooze out the side. They weren’t pretty but they were so good.
I love candy corn. LOVE.
I also love that Skylar has such impressive restraint. Maybe from being surrounded by cookies all the time? I never had that kind of willpower as a kid. I made myself sick on candy and cookies more times than I care to admit. :D
lacy, crispy, sugary pieces ooze out the side = LACEY yes!! that is the word I was looking for. And it’s not a real pretty lace :)
Impressive restraint. Yes she does as did I as a kid. My mom was also a baker and we had an inordinate amt of sugar around (for a non-food blogging house..LOL) and my friends would come over and make themselves sick whereas I was unphased. When it’s in such abundance and has no mystique, it loses it’s appeal so to speak.
These are so incredibly fun and soft looking! I can’t believe you use two tablespoons of dough. That seems like so much, but these cookies look so perfect! I am not a candy corn fan, but I gotta say that I wish I was! These cookies are so festive! I love that!
Did you read this post where I talked about dough amounts and what restaurants/bakeries use? https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/09/black-white-cookies-cream-cheese-chocolate-chip-dark-chocolate-dark-brown-sugar.html
2 tbsp is nothing. Most, like a Starbucks or Panera cookie for example, are about 1/3 cup of dough. A good 6 tbsp or more. :)
I love cookies with candy corn in them! I made some last year and they were incredible. These look so full of candy corn and white chips. The cutest story ever about your daughter and these cookies :). Made me smile!
Glad you’re a fan of C.C. + white chocolate too!
First off, these cookies look deeeeelightful! Second, I like the image of you throwing a bag of candy corn into your grocery cart with no specific plan for use – because obviously you HAVE to bake something it, so why wouldn’t you? Aaaaand now I’m wondering what it would be like to walk up the candy aisle with you… (I’m picturing a little happy dance every few feet.)
Oh gosh I spend a ridic amt of time in candy aisles just STARING at the product. To the point store employees or others ask me if I need help. I stare at it like it’s a museum exhibit. I try to stand there until a certain bag of candy and an idea hits me in the face. Sometimes it does! Other times I get close…and then other times I have no idea but I buy it blind like the candy corn. See if I were to buy candy blindly as a blogger without fleshing out a few ideas, I’d have more candy than the store. As it stands, I cannot even tell you how much candy, treats, cookies, addins, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, etc I have. It’s more than a mini mart :)
I’ve never baked with candy corns, but it seems like it would be a good idea with the leftover candy corns that nobody wants to eat. Do the candy corns soften up? I sometimes think the cookies and candy corn would be too sweet together.
Oh they’re definitely sweet! Too sweet? Nah, never. And yes, they soften slightly but also remain chewy like I wrote. So good!
I don’t know what it is about candy corn (or those little pumpkins)–but it’s addicting. I think its even more addicting when baked into cookies, transformed into butterfinger bars, or eaten with peanuts. I love the photos of the insides of your cookies–they really show the soft/gooey/melty texture. Gets me every time!!!
Glad you like those pics. Those are the money shots :)
I love the color that the candy corn gives these cookies! Now if only I had the willpower and the metabolism of your 6 year old…
I think if we all could go back to our 6 yr old metabolisms it would be pretty fabulous!
I love the bright pop of colour the candy corn brings. Looks yummy!
These look SO soft and tender… I would have never thought to put candy corn in cookies. I may just have to try it out!
Love your daughter’s response.. I’m sure these cookies would have anyone dreaming all day!
They are supremely soft & tender – yes! Love this dough base for those results!
Just came across your blog this week. Although I blog about green, clean food myself, I couldn’t help myself getting caught up in your beautiful pictures and yummy recipes! Thanks Averie!
Hi Daphne! Thanks for finding me and for getting sucked into my pics and site! I have been a lifelong vegetarian or vegan and when I started blogging 5 yrs ago, it was under the name, loveveggiesandyoga
I just couldnt blog about one more kale salad nor could my readers take it..LOL and over time, what you see here is my niche. I am a vegan who bakes with eggs and butter is how I’d describe myself :)
I’m SO happy for candy corn season though I have to be really selective as to the type I buy-lots of them have gelatin which I can’t have as a vegetarian:( I don’t know that I’ve ever had it in cookies before….
Oh that’s good to know. Off the top of your head, do you know of any ‘safe’ brands that are always okay? I honestly just thought it was all HFCS and Yellow #40 in this stuff…LOL
Well the vons and Ralph’s brands, if I recall correctly, are:)
Funny that this is Ralph’s brand! I always buy store brand anything if I think it’s going to be the exact same as the name brand!