Cookie of the day · Saturday, October 31, 2026
Thin and Crispy Vegan Black Cocoa Spiderweb Cookies
Jet-black, snappy black cocoa wafers that taste like a sandwich cookie's crunchy shell, topped with a piped dairy-free white chocolate spiderweb. There's no chilling, so you can bake a batch the afternoon of your Halloween party.
- Total time
- 1 hr 25 mins
- Makes
- 24 cookies
- Oven
- 350°F
- Ingredients
- 11
No chill; includes 2 bake rounds of about 12 mins, cooling and 15 min set time.
About these cookies
These wafers are thin and snappy and so dark they're nearly black, with the deep, slightly bitter flavor of a sandwich cookie's crunchy shell. A dairy-free white chocolate web drawn across each one shows up sharply against the black. The dough uses melted vegan butter and needs no chilling, so you can mix, bake and decorate the whole batch in under an hour and a half.
Steps
- Tap a step to check it off.
Tips for success
- Black cocoa doesn't brown, so ignore color and check texture instead. Pull the cookies when the tops are matte and crackled and the edges feel set. They crisp fully as they cool.
- Space the dough balls at least 3 inches apart and bake one sheet at a time on the center rack. Thin cookies that crowd each other or sit on an uneven rack can merge or burn at the edges.
- Melt the dairy-free white chocolate gently in short bursts. The teaspoon of coconut oil helps it flow through a tiny piping hole and gives the web clean lines.
- Pipe only a few cookies at a time and drag the toothpick right away. Once the white chocolate starts to set, it tears and won't feather into a web.
- Black cocoa on its own tastes intensely dark and a little bitter. Don't skip the salt and vanilla, because they round out the flavor.
Swaps
- Black cocoa powder: Use the same amount of Dutch-process cocoa. The cookies will be deep brown instead of black and taste a bit more like classic chocolate, but the texture won't change.
- Vegan butter: Use 7 tablespoons of melted refined coconut oil plus an extra pinch of salt. The cookies will spread a little more and bake up extra crisp, so press them only slightly.
- Dairy-free white chocolate: Pipe a stiff icing made from 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 to 3 teaspoons non-dairy milk. It sets matte and slightly softer, but the web shows up just as well.
- Non-dairy milk: Use the same amount of water. The cookies will be a touch less rich but just as snappy.
Storing
Keep the decorated cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, with parchment between the layers, for up to 1 week. Undecorated wafers freeze well for up to 2 months. If they soften, re-crisp them on a baking sheet at 300°F (150°C) for 3 to 4 minutes, let them cool completely and then pipe the webs. Don't warm cookies that are already decorated, because the webs will melt.
This recipe was developed with AI and checked for vegan ingredients and sensible baking times, but it hasn’t been test-baked in our kitchen yet. How our recipes are made.
