Halloween Spider Cookies with Chocolate and Licorice Legs
Chocolate cookies sandwiched with chocolate ganache, with legs made from unrolled licorice wheels and two candy eyes: a no-bake Halloween treat kids can help make.
Looking for a Halloween treat you can make with the kids without even switching on the oven?
Then these licorice spiders are perfect. I will show you step by step how to turn chocolate cookies into little spiders with a chocolate heart, eight licorice legs and two eyes that make them more cute than creepy.
The trick that makes this recipe so easy is the licorice wheel: once unrolled, it becomes a long, thin, bendy strip that is already the ideal shape for legs. All you have to do is cut it to length and tuck it into the filling.
It has at least three advantages: it takes half an hour, you do not need the oven, and kids can do almost everything themselves, from the legs to the eyes. On top of that, a single pack of cookies makes a whole platter.
The ganache is the glue that holds each spider together. Give it a few minutes to thicken before you use it: too runny and the legs slide off, too cold and it will not spread. You want the texture of a soft frosting.
Once assembled, the spiders go in the fridge for about twenty minutes. Then arrange them on a plate, perhaps with a spider web piped in thin lines of white chocolate.
Ready? Let’s get started on these Halloween spider cookies.
Steps
- Chop the dark chocolate, heat the cream until it just comes to the boil and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until you have a smooth, glossy ganache.
- Let the ganache thicken at room temperature for about 10 minutes, until it is spreadable but no longer runny.
- Unroll the licorice wheels and cut 96 strips 4-5 cm long: these will be the legs.
- Spread a teaspoon of ganache in the centre of a cookie and lay four legs on each side, slightly bent, with their ends pressed into the filling.
- Top with a second cookie and press down lightly so the legs stay firmly in place.
- Stick two candy eyes onto the top cookie with a dab of ganache.
- Chill the spiders in the fridge for 20 minutes so the ganache sets and the legs stop moving.
Helpful tips
If you cannot find licorice wheels, use soft licorice twists or laces cut into thin strips.
Chocolate hazelnut spread works perfectly in place of the ganache: in that case you can skip the stovetop step entirely.
Store the spiders in the fridge and take them out 10 minutes before serving so the cookies turn crisp again.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 195 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 25.0 g
- Sugars
- 14.0 g
- Protein
- 2.5 g
- Fat
- 9.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 5.0 g
- Fiber
- 1.5 g
- Sodium
- 90 mg
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