Halloween Spider Cookies

And Halloween is here! And with this celebration comes the excuse to make terrifying recipes like these Halloween spider cookies.  The truth is that I find these recipes very fun and besides being fun to make, they are very cute, and of course, above all, very tasty!

INGREDIENTS:

• 250 gr pastry flour
• 1 egg
• 125 gr butter
• 75 gr sugar
• A dash of vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt
• Round chocolates or chocolate balls to make the body of the spiders
• 100 gr of white chocolate and dark chocolate fondant (min 55%) for the eyes and legs.

STEP BY STEP RECIPE:

1. Put all the ingredients (except the chocolates) and the cold butter cut into small pieces in the mixer and beat until the ingredients are well mixed. You will get a texture of small balls.
2. We take it with our hands, and on a clean surface we knead until we obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough (it should not take you even two minutes, it is very easy) and we make a ball.
3. Wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
4. After the time has passed, we take small pieces of dough by hand, about 20 grams but I have done it by eye, and I make small balls about the size of meatballs. I place them separately on a baking tray on which I have put baking paper. Then I press them with the palm of my hand, in such a way that they will be round and thin, but not too much because then I will have to press with my finger in the middle, to make an indentation that will serve me to put the chocolates as the body of spiders once they are baked.
5. I bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 ° C, ten minutes. I take them out and I will see that they have inflated a little, I press with my finger again in the middle so that the holes do not disappear (watch out that it burns!) and I put them back in the oven another 8/10 minutes or I see that they have browned.
6. I take them out and let them cool for about 15 minutes. I had the mistake of placing the bonbon right away, and it melted after a while,,,, intended to use the heat of the cookie itself to melt a little the base of the bonbon and so it would stick. But wait a bit or it will happen to you like it did to me! Trial and error, that's what cooking is all about, so for the 2nd bonbon it didn't happen to me.
7. Use two bowls, one for the white chocolate and one for the dark chocolate. Chop them and melt at medium temperature in the microwave. I melt for a minute, take out and stir with a spoon and with the heat itself melts the rest, but if it is not enough, I put it back in for a few seconds. This way I avoid burning the chocolate or overcooking it and making it lumpy.
8. For the next step, which is to make the eyes and legs, you need two piping bags and two small round nozzles. Or just one, but you will have to wash them after each step. Put the melted white chocolate in a piping bag, and carefully make small circles on the chocolates as if they were their eyes. Let them cool to solidify.
9. Now it's time to use the sleeve with the dark chocolate to make the pupils, even smaller, over the white eyes and to make a thin line, three on each side of the bonbon, as little legs (look at the drawing to help you better).

And our new  Halloween spider cookies If you have children, make them with them, it is great fun and they love to see how simple dough balls turn into delicious cookies that will be the most dreaded snack!

With all my love,

Mireia Alum

My instagram: @cocinayviajes