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.
These look amazing (but so does everything else you make)!
I’m thinking about making them for a Halloween party I have coming up, but I know I won’t have time to do anything other than cook them. How long do you think the dough would last in the freezer?
If you read step 5. of the directions, I outlined my best educated guesses for all forms of storage, raw, baked, etc. Enjoy the cookies!
While these looked SO GOOD, sadly they were a melted candy corn disaster. The candy corns melted during the baking. I only baked 8-9 minutes at 350. I’m not sure how they failed, but I have 10 boys on the way over, so I now do not have cookies to serve. Oh well — I am happy to try again if anyone can give me a tip as to how to avoid the candy corns melting. Thanks!!
You have to enclose/cover/shield the candy corn from direct contact with the baking sheet. Candy corn does melt when exposed to heat (it’s just sugar and water) but if you shield it with dough it’s more resistant to melting.
Hi. Let me start by saying how much I love all your cookie recipes. Unfortunately, there is a but in this comments for these particular cookies. I followed the instructions perfectly and even left the dough mounds in the refrigerator for a day and a half and baked them on silpat. The first 8 cookies I put in looked great after the first 5 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, they were spread all over the place and the candy corn was bubbling inside the now flat cookies. I still took them out and let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. The cookies were totally raw and I had to mush them off the silpat. The second 8 cookies I baked for 12 minutes. Again, they were raw, mushy, flat and spread all over the place. I have been baking for years and I have no idea what I did wrong. I gave up on the third batch because even after 12-13 minutes, the cookies were still raw and flat and did not harden even after cooling on the cookie sheet. I made exactly 24 cookie mounds and they all looked pretty even. I know this is something I did wrong, but I’m not sure what it is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And I want to say again, that I have made many of your cookie recipes without any problems and they were delicious. I’m baffled at this one.
Thanks for trying so many recipes of mine and it sounds like they’ve all been successful with the exception of this one. The fact that they’re spreading so much leads me to believe that possibly the baking soda wasn’t acting properly (replace it) and/or maybe you slightly under-measured the flour. I love King Arthur Flour and swear by it for success and it’s more than worth the extra couple bucks so I would try that flour. This is a softer dough and a more delicate cookie in that you will have to watch them very carefully to find that sweet spot of done but not burnt, but addressing the spreading issue with new flour and baking soda will help a lot. LMK if you re-try!
Hi, I’m wondering if this recipe will still work if I make the cookies smaller and baked them after just a few hours of being in the fridge? I would like to make these for my brother in college, and I want to get them to him right away. He loves candy corn, but when I saw that these cookies had to be refrigerated for multiple days, I was worried. Will what I suggested work, or is there another recipe that includes candy corn that you suggest.
Re-read step 4. You don’t have to chill for multiple days, but you can if you’d like to. You need to chill for at least 3 hours.
I can’t wait to try this. It is so intriguing! I’ll follow and try to do it at the weekend.
Thanks for your guide
I just made your cookie recipe today to take to friendsgiving tonight with my church small group, but they are still almost balls after i cooked them. Do you have any suggestions? I wonder if I just needed to flatten them more before I bake them? I tried to squish the second batch down more, but b/c they were frozen (I didn’t have enough time to let them chill, so I put them in the freezer) they wouldn’t flatten any. Ok, maybe that’s why they cooked different? B/c they were frozen? haha If you have any suggestions I would love to try them again. My husband loovvves candy corn! I was pumped to try these. Thank you!!
I think because they were frozen you probably should have baked them a bit longer and they likely would have flattened out as they baked. However, you maybe would want to flatten them a bit more as well to help encourage them to flatten.
Well, despite their original appearance they turned out delicious! Everyone went on and on about how good they were! They ended up flattening out a little more as they cooled. I did take your advice and bake the second batch a little longer and that worked great! Thanks for the awesome recipe! I’m sure I will be making them every year as candy corn is my husband’s favorite candy! :)
Glad they were a hit and that you’ll make them again next year and that the 2nd batch with slightly longer baking time was even better!
I really want to do this recipe but I have sticks of Parkay and no butter. Can I use that instead? Thanks!
I worry that the cookies will spread with Parkay, but….you can always try it. I would add an extra 1/4 cup or so of flour as insurance against spreading. May or may not help you a little!
My husband loves candy corn so I made these for him tonight. He went nuts over them! I added the candy corn (3 pieces per cookie) as I was flattening the mounds, just squishing them in until they were partially covered with the dough. They came out perfect! Can’t wait to try some of your other cookie recipes. Thanks for sharing. Happy Halloween!
added the candy corn (3 pieces per cookie) as I was flattening the mounds, just squishing them in until they were partially covered with the dough <--- great thinking! Glad they came out great for you and if you try other recipes, LMK!
I made these this week and they have been a huge hit with everyone who has tried them. I love the soft, sugar-cookie like dough with the candy corn. Great idea!
Glad they worked out great for you and that they’ve been a huge hit with everyone!
I made these yesterday and took them to work today. I live in Holland and most people have never heard of candycorn but they LOVED it! Seriously the best cookies ever, I’m going to make every combination possible in the next months. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe :)
So glad you loved these and that they were a hit at your office and that you plan to remake the recipe using every combo possible! I have done it with dried cranberries/white chocolate for Christmas and they’re awesome.
https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/12/cranberry-and-white-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
And this dough base is similar as well https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/09/buttery-pecan-pumpkin-spice-cookies.html with the cream, same ratios, etc.
Found this recipe on pin
I’m so sorry, fat fingers! Found this recipe on Pinterest and had I comment that this recipe is flawless!! Made them for a fall harvest party for teens, along with many other delicious fall treats, but these were by far the biggest hit with everyone. Literally came out perfect, just like the pic. Thank you so much!!
Literally came out perfect, just like the pic. <--- AWESOME! Glad to hear that! And glad to hear that among teens (who can be picky sometimes!) these were the biggest hit! Thanks for the compliments & trying the recipe!
I made this recipe, exactly as written, and while they tasted great, they were a pain to make and an even bigger pain to clean up. I made sure no candy corn was showing, didn’t matter, they spread, melted and burned. They were watery messes, despite chilling for 24 hours. While I appreciate your detailed instructions and “warnings”, following them to a tee did not equal the same results. Too bad, I was really wanting these to work! If I ever try them again, I think I will decrease the candy corn amount. Thanks for sharing!
Lots of people have had great success with the recipe as you can see by reading through the comments and I’m glad you enjoyed the taste.
These cookies are dynamite and you gave some great tips that helped save me from a melted candy corn disaster. I work as a professional pastry chef/pastry cook AND a food writer, and I’ve tried and madecountless cookies — these are stellar! :)
Thanks for your high praise, Tracy! It means a lot knowing that a professional pastry chef/cook and food writer gives these a big stamp of approval!
I’m sure you, as I have, have literally made thousands of cookies in your day and glad these were dynamite for you!
thank you so much for sharing. a certain ‘goth’ IG celeb would never share her candy corn cookie recipe and now i’m so happy i FINALLY can make these successfully.
THANK YOU IT’S A HALLOWEEN MIRACLE!
Happy to help and if you try them, LMK!! Didn’t know there was any famous goth celeb not sharing a recipe, but now you have mine!
Would whole milk work instead of cream or half and half?
Yes that’s fine.
I loved these cookies, but I did make a change….. I used salted peanuts instead of white chocolate. Every harvest party I go to has bowls of that combo sitting around. The salty/ sweet combo was delicious! Thank you for the base, great directions, and inspiration!
salted peanuts + candy corn = GREAT IDEA! Love that. Cuts the sweetness of the candy corn without adding more with the white chocolate…stellar idea! I’m going to make a note of this in the recipe! Glad the directions, base, and everything inspired you!