Halloween Chocolate Spider Cookies
shared by Nibblore Kitchen
These Halloween chocolate spider cookies pair soft-centered cocoa cookies with small chocolate-truffle bodies, crisp piped legs and tiny white-chocolate eyes. Chilling the dough controls spreading, while complete cooling keeps the decorations neat and firmly attached. The recipe makes exactly 24 cookies for a party tray or Halloween treat boxes. • The total elapsed time is about 2 hours 35 minutes, including 45 minutes of dough chilling, 40 minutes of cookie cooling and approximately 30 minutes for the decorations to set. • Use truffles no wider than about 1 inch (2.5 cm), so the bodies fit without hiding the eight legs. • If the kitchen is warm, refrigerate the decorated cookies for 5 minutes to set the chocolate, but avoid extended chilling because condensation can mark the eyes. • Check the labels on truffles and chocolates to ensure they are peanut-free and suitable for anyone with a peanut allergy; manufacturing cross-contact varies by brand. • Dutch-process cocoa may replace natural cocoa, but the cookies may be darker and slightly less tangy; keep the baking soda unchanged for this small substitution. • Dark chocolate containing 55–65% cacao may replace the semisweet chocolate used for piping. • Milk-chocolate truffles may replace dark-chocolate truffles if a sweeter spider body is preferred. • A sturdy zip-top bag with one very small corner snipped off may replace each piping bag, although a parchment cone gives finer control. Store fully set cookies in a single layer in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for up to 5 days and bring to room temperature before serving. To freeze, freeze undecorated baked cookies for up to 2 months, thaw completely at room temperature and then decorate. Do not reheat decorated cookies, as the spider bodies and legs will melt.
- Total time
- 69 min
- Servings
- 24
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
Create a free account to keep this recipe in your own cookbook and find it again when it’s time to cook.
Save to my cookbook — freeIngredients
- 170 gall-purpose flour
- 45 gunsweetened natural cocoa powder
- ½ tspbaking soda
- ½ tspfine salt
- 115 gunsalted butter, softened to 18–20°C
- 120 glight brown sugar, packed
- 70 ggranulated sugar
- 1 largeegg, at room temperature
- 1 tspvanilla extract
- 24 piecesmall round chocolate truffles, about 10 g each and unwrapped
- 115 gsemisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 30 gwhite chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
- 1Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl until evenly combined and no cocoa lumps remain.
- 2Beat the softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, until creamy and slightly lightened. Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl once.
- 3Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until no dry streaks remain. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 45 minutes; it should feel firm enough to portion without sticking heavily.
- 4Line two 13-by-18-inch rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C), positioning racks in the upper and lower thirds.
- 5Divide the chilled dough into 24 level portions of about 29 g each and roll them into balls. Arrange 12 balls on each prepared pan in a 3-by-4 pattern, leaving at least 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) between them for spreading. Flatten each ball gently to a disc about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick.
- 6Bake both pans for 10–12 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom and rotating them front to back after 6 minutes. The cookies are done when their edges look set and matte but their centers remain slightly soft; do not wait for the centers to become firm.
- 7Let the cookies cool on the pans for 10 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks. Cool completely for at least 30 minutes before decorating; any residual warmth can melt the truffles and blur the piped legs.
- 8Place the semisweet chocolate in a dry microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at 50% power in 20-second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth. Cool for 3–5 minutes, until fluid but not hot, then transfer it to a small piping bag fitted with a 1–2 mm round tip, or a parchment cone with a tiny opening.
- 9On each cooled cookie, pipe eight thin chocolate legs: four bent lines extending from each side of the intended body position. Pipe a small mound of chocolate at the center and immediately set one truffle on top. Leave the assembled cookies undisturbed for 15–20 minutes, until the dark chocolate is firm.
- 10Melt the white chocolate in a separate dry bowl at 50% microwave power in 15-second intervals, stirring each time. Transfer it to a parchment cone with a pin-size opening. Pipe two tiny white dots on the front of every truffle to form eyes. Let the cookies stand at cool room temperature for 15 minutes, until all decorations are set.