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TARANTULA COOKIES
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2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugaar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
thin pretzel sticks (you’ll need about 200 total, so a bag of these is fine)
1 large bag (11 1/2 ounces) milk chocolate chips (you might another 1/2 bag)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (or a little more if you need it thinner)
Chocolate sprinkles
Small red candies (cinnamon Red Hots work great)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease them.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well blended.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture and cocoa powder. Beat to form a smooth dough.

5. Roll a tablespoon-sized ball of dough, and place it on a baking sheet (if you have a cookie dough scooper, that will work perfectly for this). Arrange eight pretzel sticks around the ball like spokes on a wheel. Press the tips of the pretzel sticks firmly into the dough ball. Make sure you push them in far enough so they’ll stay put after baking.  Continue with the rest of the pretzels and dough.

6. Bake until cookies start to brown around edges, about 8 to 11 minutes.

7. Lift the cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula, and place on wire cooling racks. Let cool completely and then remove to a platter.   Spray racks lightly with cooking spray and then place on sheets of aluminium foil or waxed paper.

8. In a double boiler (or the microwave), melt the chocolate chips with vegetable oil.

9. Hold a spider cookie in a large kitchen spoon with one hand, and with the other hand spoon the melted chocolate over the cookie and spider legs (do this over the melted chocolate bowl so the chocolate can drip off the sides and fall back into the bowl).   Let excess chocolate drip off and then gently place the chocolate-covered cookie back onto the rack.  Spoon chocolate sprinkles onto the cookie and legs. Press in two red candy eyes on the front of the head. Repeat with remaining cookies and let cool for at least a couple of hours to set.

Cooking Tips:
*Don’t refrigerate the dough- it will be hard to stick in the pretzel sticks in.
**The pretzels are a bit precarious… be gentle when handling the baked cookies and doing the chocolate drizzle.  You might injure a few spiders in the process (lost legs), but be assured that they’re still delicious!
***Recycle the sprinkles that collect under the racks.
****If you have time to let these set for several hours before serving, they’ll have proper time to set.  If they still seem pretty chocolatey to the touch, serve on little pieces of parchment paper or on flattened out large cupcake papers (for easy handling by eaters).
*****While this isn’t a quick and easy recipe, it’s one that’s fun to do with the kids and it turns out cute and delicious.

Yield:  I was able to shape 23 cookies, using a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop.

Source:  Adapted from Epicurious

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