Quite a few fall flavored foods have already happened around here, but it’s October now. Time to step up the Halloween game from pumpkin spiced to pumpkin spooky. Or at least as spooky as cookies and sprinkles can possibly be. Which admittedly is more sweet than spooky. More treat than trick.
There is no one better to kick off this month of all things orange, black, and ominous with than my beaming baking bestie, Demeter. She is the queen of sweet, spooky, and scrumptious! And also storytelling. I always bring snacks and settle in for a great tale when I visit Beaming Baker. Usually funny, sometimes thrilling, always entertaining stories, that (most importantly) always end with something completely crave-worthy. Or in this case creepy and crave-worthy!
As you probably already guessed from the title of the post, this is no ordinary spiders/ghosts/pumpkins Halloween collaboration. There is a cinematic element involved. For our dessert recipe duo, we took inspiration from the creepy, kooky, monster-filled movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. So we both have a sweet movie-themed treat to share.
My original plan was to create this entire moonlit mountain-top scene on top of a tall golden stack of pancakes, but things went in an unexpectedly not gold direction (more on that another day). Change of plans. Enter: oversized chocolate cookie. Honestly I’m no too mad about the switch. More chocolate and a chance to sneak some pumpkin into the mix–I’m pretty sure that’s winning!
With the chocolate cookie canvas taken care of, next is a thick layer of pumpkin frosting. Okay fine, it can be any frosting. But it’s October so pumpkin is highly recommended. I actually used some leftover filling from the Pumpkin Spice Oreos. But you could use chocolate frosting. Or coconut frosting. Or caramel frosting. It makes no difference, it’s going to be covered with sprinkles and sweet stuff anyways.
Next comes the sprinkles. Turmeric-dyed sprinkles make up the yellow moon backdrop. I printed and cut out a cookie-sized copy of the swirling mountain peak from the movie, and utilizing my pro glitter-application skills, I coated the rest of the frosting in gold sprinkles.
Fill in the mountain with melted chocolate, build a tiny stick figure of Jack Skellington with chocolate sprinkles, and done! I made that sound super simple by writing it really fast, but actually the stick figure part is kinda tricky and involves lots of toothpick-sprinkle maneuvering in my experience. But it doesn’t have to be perfect, you are going to eat it in 5 seconds anyways!
Apparently The Nightmare Before Christmas brings out the chocolate + coconut lover in both of us, because Demeter created these crazy amazing Jack Skellington Mounds Cups! I’m pretty sure she was born to make Jack Skellington into chocolate coconut candy, don’t you? Check out her recipe -> here
A video for this mega-sized, movie-inspired, chocolate cookie creation…
Nightmare Before Christmas Cookie
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 52 minutes
- Yield: 1 cookie 1x
Ingredients
Cookie
- 1/4 cup oat flour
- 2 tbsps unsweetened applesauce (or pumpkin puree would work too!)
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- 1–2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For Decorating
- Pumpkin frosting (see post above for other options)
- Turmeric sprinkles
- 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
Chocolate Sprinkles
- 1 tsp cacao powder
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Make your chocolate and turmeric sprinkles first following the instructions in this post.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the cookie. Mix.
- On a pan lined with parchment paper, press out the dough into a single cookie (approximately 4″ diameter). You can use a cookie cutter to make it more exact.
- Bake for 12 minutes at 350F.
- Let it cool, then chill for at least 1 hour before decorating.
- Once cool, pipe/spread a smooth layer of frosting over the entire cookie.
- Print and cutout a clipart drawing of the mountain silhouette that fits the cookie. Press onto the cookie.
- Sprinkle the entire top of the cookie with turmeric sprinkles. Press them in gently. Remove the paper cutout.
- Melt the chocolate chips. Fill in the mountain with melted chocolate using a squeeze bottle or a spoon. It helps to freeze the cookie for 10 minutes first so the chocolate will set faster.
- Use a toothpick to carve out the Jack Skellington silhouette. Carefully lay the chocolate sprinkles to make the figure, using a small dot of melted chocolate for the head.
- Take a picture, smile about the imperfections, and eat!
>>> Click Below To Pin <<<
these cookies are TOO CUTE! I love that movie so much and it’s so appropriate this time of year! SWOON!
Thanks Rachel! It felt so weird to be typing the word “Christmas” already though haha 😀
Natalie! This! Is! Amazing! Yours and Demeter’s recipes are gold. So cute and so well done! Love! Love! Love!
Thank you Leah! We both decided that the little Jack Skellington figure is way too skinny to easily be made out of food lol. But it was fun 🙂
I will definitely make this this week:P I’m even thinking about making really small ones out of the batter, use chocolate frosting and then give them a nice coat of melted chocolate… Haha but first I’ll make your version:) without the decorations hehe
Oooh I love that idea! Forget all the pesky decorations, just go straight for the chocolate covered in chocolate–that’s the important stuff 😀
These are amazing! And I LOVE Demeter and all of her delicious vegan treats. Well done, ladies!
Thanks Jenn! The movie theme was her idea, she is so creative and so much 🙂
Oh my goodness. Too perfect for words. Love that film! And love how you created this fun treat! Demeter’s ones are awesome too. Tim Burton would be proud…
Haha well then our work here is done 😀 Thank you Aimee!
Pumpkin spooky <– YEP, totally stepping it up. 😉 Treat or trick? I'll take 'em all! "beaming baking bestie" D'awwwwwwww. Like, more d'aww than a HUGE basket of puppies holding unicorns and blasting sunshine with rainbows would elicit. That's a LOT of d'aws. Just so you know. 😉 I'm so honored, pleased and just plain 'ol happy that I was able to work with mah bejeweled (like in fruits) brilliant bestie on this. 🙂 Note that I started to say bejeweled banana, and that had to end but quick. Lolol.
You know how much I absolutely love your homemade sprinkles. Like, if you lived nea me (I wish), I would totally be stopping by your store, ahem, your pantry grabbing all the colors of these sprinkles. 🙂 So much winning in this post. But more importantly, can you make these for me during our MPN summit? Pretty please? 🙂 I love oversized everything (except for dogs apparently) and would probably need at least a dozen of these. Deal? Signed, your partner in crime, BBB xo
Wow, that is a gargantuan amount of d’awwwwwwwww! Because I’ve seen puppies, rainbows, sunshine, and unicorns (okay maybe not that last one?) and altogether they would be hard to compete with. But it’s high time I have a proper nickname for you to match dear lady bird. Bahahahaha “bejelewed banana”?? Good save, good save. Plus brilliant is very kind of you <3 The sprinkles last FOREVER so actually I have quite a stash and color selection that I would be more than happy to share! I'll be sure to pack them in my MPN conference luggage too 😉 I'm going to need to hear more about this dog business...? Deal! Love ya BBB xo
Oh my gosh! You ladies are amazing!! Natalie this cookie has every yummy thing – chocolate, frosting, pumpkin, sprinkles, aaaaand a food art depiction of one of the greatest Halloween movies! I don’t know how you do it girl! Love it and I’m sending your recipe to everyone like “look at thissss!!”
Hahaha you are so sweet! This was a very fun one, I love the holidays for an excuse to go all out with elaborate recipes 🙂 Although it was also a good reminder why I got away from doing decorated cupcakes and cakes–frosting/sprinkle art is so tricky. And unforgiving. Although I’ll probably forget that and attempt it again come christmas time 😀
2 of my favorite bloggers and people joined forces for delicious Halloween recipes! YAY!!!!!
Love this cookie! And your sprinkles are just too great 🙂
Awww you are the sweetest Ellie? Demeter is the bomb isn’t she, I’m borderline obsessed with her amazing creations 🙂
Finally made my way over here to catch up and I’m cracking up! That is such a funny cookie and that little man drawing is to die for! So cute! Sometimes kitchen fails are meant to be, and what could possibly be wrong if you ended up with chocolate cookies! I’m always in the mood for cookies, always. Especially chocolate ones. I haven’t even begun to think about Halloween recipes, but I better get on the ball. Your post certainly gave me the push I need!
You’ve been cranking out the pumpkin recipes though, which is pretty much just the sophisticated way to do Halloween as a blogger 🙂 Now that it’s October though I’m feeling like ahhhh it’s coming so fast and I still have so many ideas! So true on the chocolate cookie part–no way to lose really 🙂
Wow!! These are so amazing! You and Demeter are crazy talented 🙂
Thank you Megan! We both decided making stick figure Jack Skellington with chocolate was quite the tricky endeavor lol 😀
OMG!!!!!!! Natalie! This is insanely creative!!! Just, wow. What a fun collaboration – both of your recipes look amazing and like they require a bit of skill and steady hand 😉 I’m intrigued by the pancakes – sounds like quite the task, but seriously, you can’t go wrong with chocolate cookies…oversized chocolate cookies to be exact! These look incredible, especially with that generous layer of pumpkin frosting. And I love that your sprinkles made another appearance – It was fun to watch this cookie come together in your video. <3
I love your story how this incredible cookie came to life. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, but end up working out perfectly. I think this is magnificent! I love The Nightmare Before Christmas and your artwork really captures the essence of it. Beautiful job, Natalie 🙂
So very true! And, as I’m sure you know, the recipes that take a few tries to get right are all the sweeter once they do finally work 🙂 Thanks Melissa!
Ah what an amazing idea! Absolutely love that film … these look delicious too xx
Thank you Gabriella! It’s such a strange and amazing movie–perfect for dessert inspo 🙂
You know what, I kind of think you’re a clever cookie, Natalie! This was really fun to watch and I’m happy that your pancakes turned red, because a giant cookie is indeed always a winner. The giant kid in me would want one. The tiny adult in me is happy about having sprinkles one can justify as wholesome. And chocolate… and pumpkin… ? I’d say that’s a combo you can’t go wrong with.
“…wholesome sprinkles” that’s not a combination of words I think I’ve ever heard before lol. Does one really every out-grow sprinkles? I think not!
It tasted good! I had to add a bit of water to make the dough stick together but it was a very large cookie 🙂
★★★★
Hehe yes it is not for the faint of cookie heart 😀 I’m so happy you liked it, and you can always add a little extra applesauce too if the dough seems to dry. With small batch recipes like this often a little moisture vs dry ingredient adjusting is necessary. Thanks for the feedback Dana!