Spider donuts are the perfect Halloween treat. Fresh baked apple cider donuts are coated in chocolaty frosting and decorated to look like adorable spiders for a Halloween donut the kids will love!
Halloween will be here before we know it, and what better way to spend the spookiest day of the year than with some scary delicious treats!
Halloween is a great excuse to bake tons of sweets, and nothing screams "Halloween" like apples and spiders.
I'm not sure if it is the same for you but whenever I think of Halloween, I immediately think of apple-flavored items. Apple cider, apple pie, and caramel apples are all some of my favorite treats this time of year.
My love for anything apple-inspired pushed me to create these delicious Spider Donuts! They're basically an apple cider donut that is coated in a chocolate frosting and decorated to look like creepy, black spiders!
These donuts are really easy to make! Not only do you bake them, but you also can't mess up the decorating step.
They're perfect if you need a quick treat to whip up in order to put out on your countertop or dessert table. Plus, how cute would these be at a Halloween-themed party?!
These spider donuts were inspired by another delicious fall-inspired donut recipe on my site. I love to serve these along with my Halloween bat cookies, vampire donuts, and other sweet Halloween-themed treats.
Why You Will Love this Recipe
- These donuts are tender and soft.
- They're easy to make, and you won't have to spend a ton of time on them.
- Kid-friendly activity! Get the kids in the kitchen when making spider donuts, they'll have a blast!
- The spider theme is perfect for Halloween parties or simply to have on hand for snacking.
Ingredients
This recipe uses simple ingredients that you can find easily at your local grocery store.
I'll go over what makes these donuts pop, but you can find the full ingredient list along with amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
For the Donuts
- Apple cider: For delicious fall flavor.
- Milk and lemon juice: To make your own buttermilk.
- Classic fall spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves add even more classic fall flavor.
- Activate charcoal powder or black food coloring: Give the icing an intense black color so these donuts look super spooky.
For the Frosting
- Basic icing ingredients: Butter, cream, and powdered sugar.
- Activated charcoal powder or black food coloring: To make the icing black.
- Spider decorations: Chocolate sprinkles, pretzels sticks, candy eyes, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
How to Make Spider Donuts
Making these donuts is a lot easier than you might think. In fact, it's very easy. I'm going over the highlights here, but you can find the full instructions int he recipe card at the end of the post.
- Simmer the apple cider until it reduces by half, then let it cool to room temperature. Combine the milk and lemon juice and let it sit while the cider simmers.
- Combine the dry ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Spray the donut pans well with baking spray and pipe donut batter into the donut pan.
- Bake until golden and springy. Then, turn the donuts out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Mix all icing ingredients until smooth and creamy. Then, dip the cooled donuts in the icing to coat the top. Chill in the fridge to harden the icing.
- Melt the chocolate chips and dip half of the pretzel sticks into the chocolate and coat with chocolate sprinkles. Refrigerate to set the chocolate. Stick 3 decorated pretzels into each side of the donuts to make legs.
- Dip the back of the eyes in icing and secure them to the donuts.
Substitutions and Variations
- No Activated Charcoal? I made these Spider donuts black with activated charcoal for the deep black color. Swap it with black food color if you want, but the color may not be as dark.
- Monster Donuts: Leave off the legs, make a few small batches of different colored frosting, and make monster donuts.
- Don't have time for baking? That's ok, make the icing and use store-bought donuts instead and add the legs, eyes and maybe the icing if you want!
- Make mini donuts instead! Use a mini sized donut pan or storebought mini donuts to make smaller versions of spider donuts.
If you like these donuts, then you need to try these vampire donuts or our cake mix donuts!
Equipment
- Donut pan
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowl
- Saucepan
- Whisk
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
- Piping bag or gallon size resealable bag
- Wire rack
- Shallow bowl
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Microwaveable Bowl
- Spoon
Storage
Refrigerator: Store these donuts in the refrigerator for up to five days. For best results, store undecorated so they don't get soggy.
Freezer: Freeze decorated donuts immediately and store for up to three months.
Make-Ahead: You can bake these donuts up to 24 in advance.
What to Serve with Spider Donuts
These are great treats for snacking at home or serving with other sweet and savory Halloween recipes at parties.
- Halloween Rice Krispies Treats
- Ghost Cupcakes
- Monster Cupcakes
- Mummy Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizzas
- Mummy Cherry Hand Pies
- Air Fryer Mummy Dogs
Tips
- Activated charcoal is best for the deepest black color.
- Be sure your donuts are fully cooled before dipping them into your icing. Otherwise, it will simply fall off.
- It's important to chill your donuts and the pretzel sticks to allow the icing and melted chocolate to set.
FAQ
Yes, food-grade activated charcoal is safe to eat. You want a brand that has been treated with oxygen.
Activated charcoal is a special type of charcoal that has been treated with oxygen to make it super porous and absorbent. You can find food-grade activated charcoal at your local health food store or online.
You can buy donut pans online like I did, or you can pick them up at your local craft or big box store. I grabbed my donut pan from Amazon.
You can buy candy eyes at your local craft or big store, or you can be like me and refuse to put on pants and order your candy eyes and activated charcoal on Amazon. You can also buy food coloring online if you would prefer food coloring instead of activated charcoal.
Video
More Delicious Donut Recipes
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Halloween Spider Donuts
Equipment
- piping bag or gallon size resealable bag
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup butter 1 stick
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves, ground
- 1-2 Tablespoons food grade activated charcoal powder or 1-2 teaspoons black food coloring
ICING/DECORATIONS
- 3 Tablespoons melted butter
- 3 Tablespoons cream
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ - 1 tablespoon activated charcoal powder or 1 teaspoon black food coloring
- 36-42 pretzel sticks
- chocolate Jimmies or sprinkles
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- candy eyes
Instructions
Make the Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Pour one cup of apple juice or apple cider into a small saucepan, heat until boiling then turn the heat down just a bit and simmer until the juice has been reduced by half. Let cool to room temp.
- Pour the lemon juice into the milk and let sit for a couple minutes.
- Pour all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until combined.
- Add the milk and lemon mixture, the apple cider reduction, eggs, vanilla, and butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Spoon your batter into a piping bag or into a 1 gallon zip top bag and snip one bottom corner.
- Prepare a donut pan by spraying with non-stick baking spray. Pipe the batter into the prepared donut pan.
- Bake the donuts in a preheated oven at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes until fully baked. The cake should be springy to the touch.
- Turn the donuts out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before decorating.
Decorating your Black Donuts
- To make the icing, combine the melted butter, cream, food coloring (or charcoal powder) and powdered sugar. Mix until all of the sugar has dissolved. (If the icing is too thick, add a bit more cream, if it is too thin add a bit more powdered sugar.)
- Once the donuts have cooled completely, dip the top of the donut into the freshly made icing. Place dipped donut onto a plate or tray.
- Finish dipping the remainder of the donuts then place candy eyeballs onto each of the donuts, you can do as few as 2 or as many as 8 or more on each!
- Place the tray of donuts into the fridge for 15-30 minutes or until the icing has hardened a bit.
- While the donuts are in the fridge, melt the chocolate chips in a small microwave safe container.
- Dip each one of the pretzel sticks about 80% the way into the chocolate, spin the sticks against the side of the container to remove excess chocolate, as you only need a thin layer. Then dip the chocolate covered pretzel into the chocolate sprinkles. Set the pretzel onto a parchment lined tray. Repeat this for all of the pretzel sticks.
- Once all of the pretzel legs have been made, place the tray into the fridge to let the chocolate harden.
- When the donuts and the legs have hardened and you are ready to serve, remove the donuts from the fridge and gently stick 6-8 of the legs into each donut.
- Serve, and enjoy your spooky treat! Enjoy every bite!
Video
Notes
- Activated charcoal is best for the deepest black color.
- Be sure your donuts are fully cooled before dipping them into your icing. Otherwise, it will simply fall off.
- It's important to chill your donuts and the pretzel sticks to allow the icing and melted chocolate to set.
Nutrition
This post was originally published August 2021. It has been updated for content.
Anita says
I never made doughnuts before. I also have never used apple cider in baking either. So this was first for me. Thanks to your easy to follow recipe I didn't mess it up and they turned out great. The kids went wild for them too.
Karin and Ken says
I love the flavor from the apple cider too. Different and delicious. I’m so happy you enjoyed them. All the best. Karin