Easy Halloween cookies

Get the kids thrilled for Halloween with these creepy bat and spider cookies. Total with ‘compressed flies’ made from chocolate chips, they’ll be a big hit.

STEP 1

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugars together with an electrical whisk up until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat again to combine. Stir in the flour and baking powder with a wood spoon up until you have a stiff dough, then fold in the chocolate chips.

STEP 2 Divide the dough into 20 pieces and roll into balls. Set up on

the prepared baking sheets, well spaced out so there’s space for spreading(you might require to bake them in batches ). Press the tops of the cookies down very slightly using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass. Bake the cookies for 10-12 mins up until golden around the edges, then delegate cool on the baking sheets for 10 mins. Transfer to cake rack and leave to cool completely.

STEP 3 To make the spider cookies, lay 10 of the cooled cookies out in front of you. Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag and the royal icing into another, then snip off completions using scissors. Pipe a dot of royal icing onto the back of two Maltesers, and organize these onto one of the cookies to create the head and body of the spider. Repeat with the staying nine cookies and the rest of the Maltesers. Pipeline eight spider legs around the bodies of the spiders using the chocolate. Pipe two small dots of royal icing onto the heads to produce eyes, then pipe very small dots of chocolate over the eyes to develop pupils. If you like, embellish the bodies with the royal icing.

STEP 4 To make the bat cookies, lay the remaining 10 cookies out in front of you. Different the cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, and carefully scrape the cream filling off the chocolate cookie pieces. Cut the chocolate cookie pieces into semicircles using a little serrated knife. Stick a caramel-filled chocolate onto the middle of each cooled cookie using the royal icing, then utilize a bit more to stick a chocolate cookie semicircle on either side of the chocolates to make the bat wings. Pipe eyes onto the chocolates using the royal icing and melted chocolate.