Spider Cookies

by Sheila Connolly

O lucky me! I get to post on Halloween, and I am so ready!

First, I have a gift for you readers who love my County Cork mysteries and are having a hard time waiting for An Early Wake, which won’t be published until February 2015. So I’ve written a short story set in Ireland, Under the Hill, which fits nicely with the Halloween theme (you’ll see why) and it’s free for all e-platforms. You can find it here:

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords.

Second, if you like cozies (pun intended), have I got a cozy for you: this skull tea cozy. You could have some really interesting tea parties with this (if anyone would drink the tea under it!). Leave a comment here before midnight (when the dead walk this night!) and I’ll draw one name.

And now, on to the recipe! I’ve talked before my love affair with Stock, the cookware shop in Dublin. The first time I saw it was two years ago in November, and they were sold out of most of their Halloween cookies cutters. (Note: they have terrific cookie cutters—intricate and sturdy and really interesting. Last time I was there I bought a tractor and a rosebud.) I made sure to put in an order well before last Halloween, so now I have a great jack-o’lantern, and a ghoulie, and a skull and crossbones, and…a spider. I had to have the spider.

I’ve used this cookie recipe before on MLK, a couple of years ago, but since these cookie-cutters are very detailed I had to modify the recipe to make the dough a bit less fragile, and easier to handle. That meant cutting down on the butter and substituting solid shortening, plus adding a bit more flour to make the dough stiffer. They still came out nice and chewy.

As for the frosting…I ordered the black food coloring (there are some sources online that say if you combine all colors of food coloring you get something black-ish, but I think that sounds like a muddy mess), but it’s not expensive. You might be able to find it at a local craft supply store.

BLACK WIDOW HALLOWEEN COOKIES

(the black widow is the only poisonous spider common in my state)

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup solid shortening

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 cup unsulfured molasses

6 cups all-purpose flour (more if needed)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tsp ground ginger

Spices (yes, lots!)

4 tsp ground cinnamon

1-1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper (really!)

1-1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and molasses.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.  Stir into the butter-shortening-sugar mixture.

Divide the dough into thirds and wrap each piece in plastic wrap.  Chill for at least an hour (you can do this well ahead of time if you like), or even overnight.

Roll the dough 1/8-inch thick between two pieces of wax paper.

Cut the dough into shapes with your cookie cookie cutters.  Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crisp but not too dark.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

[Note: spiders have skinny legs, so it’s a little tricky to transfer them. If you don’t have a spider cutter, this would work well with pumpkin-shaped cutters.)

Makes 4-5 dozen cookies, depending on their size.

FROSTING

I’ll admit I was stymied by this. I ordered the food coloring, no problem. But most of the recipes I found called for a base of Royal Icing, which in turn required Meringue Mix. I have never heard of Meringue Mix. It seems to consist of dried egg whites with a little sugar added, and it’s what makes bakery frosting firm and crisp rather than gooey. You can order it when you order that black food coloring.

In a pinch you can substitute the old reliable recipe of confectioners sugar plus a bit of milk, add powdered chocolate, then add the black color. Or you can buy some canned chocolate frosting and add the color (although this version won't harden). One tip: you might want to wear latex gloves when playing with the black frosting, or your hands may end up with some interesting blotches. Wicked stuff!

And don't turn your back on them for a minute!