Spider peanut cookies

1.

Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Mix the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until the butter is fully incorporated. Add the eggs, vanilla and peanut butter and continue mixing. Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Add the sieved dry ingredients to the mixture and lastly add the chopped chocolate chips. Remove from the stand mixer.

2.

For each cookie, weigh out 40g of the dough and roll into balls. Place each ball onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving space between each cookie to allow for spreading. Lightly press down on each ball. Bake at 170 ˚C for 10 minutes.

3.

Remove the cookies from the oven and using a teaspoon, make a small dent in the middle of each cookie while they’re still warm. This will allow the spider to sit on top of the cookie. Cool the cookies at room temperature.

4.

Milk Chocolate Honey Ganache

Place the cream and honey in a saucepan, add in the vanilla bean paste and bring to a boil. Place the milk couverture in a bowl and pour the boiling cream over it. Whisk by hand until all the chocolate is melted and combined with the cream to create a ganache. Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the ganache. Leave at room temperature until it cools. Transfer the prepared ganache into a piping bag and pipe it into each of the truffle shells, filling to the top.

5.

Temper the milk chocolate and transfer to a paper piping cone. Pipe some of the chocolate on top of the truffle shells to seal them. Once the chocolate sets, place a toothpick into the base of each truffle and dip the shell into the tempered milk chocolate. Tap the shell on the surface of the chocolate to create surface tension and remove any excess chocolate. Wipe the base of the truffle on the side of the bowl and carefully place the shell onto a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray, twisting the toothpick to remove it. Allow to set.

6.

Spider Eyes

Temper the dark couverture and add in the titanium dioxide, mixing together until fully incorporated. Transfer some of the dark chocolate to a paper piping cone and pipe a small amount of the chocolate into a half sphere mould. Allow to set.

7.

Temper the white chocolate and add in the titanium dioxide, mixing together until fully incorporated. Transfer some of the white chocolate to a paper piping cone and pipe a small amount of the chocolate on top of the dark chocolate, covering it. Allow to set.

8.

Assembly

Temper the milk couverture. Transfer to a paper piping cone and pipe a small amount of the chocolate onto the middle of each cookie. Place a truffle shell on top of the cookie and pipe lines of chocolate on each side to create 8 spider legs (4 legs on each side). Remove the chocolate eyes from the moulds and secure them to the truffle using the tempered chocolate.

9.

Temper the white chocolate. Create the blood by adding the titanium to the tempered chocolate. Mix together to combine then add the red colour and mix again to ensure it is fully incorporated. Melt the cocoa butter to 29-30˚C and add it to the red chocolate to make it more fluid. Use a paper piping cone to randomly place drops of the chocolate blood around the spiders and cookies. Allow to set fully before handling.

For more of Kirsten’s spooky treats try:

Ghost lollipops

Chocolate Eyeballs