Willow Bird Baking Challenge #3: Black Widow Bite Cookies

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope the weekend was filled with all sorts of good stuff for you and that you're recharged for the week! :) I am super excited to announce that the winner of the NatureBox giveaway is... Christina Fitch!

Congratulations, Christina, I hope you enjoy your prize... and that you report back to us & let us know what you receive in your NatureBox!

{If you didn't win this time, don't be bummed...remember you have access to a 25% NatureBox discount code - APPLE25- just for being a reader of The Kitchen Prep!}

Well... we are halfway through October and and I'm just going to come right out with it and be straight with you: Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays.

There, I said it.

I know a lot of you are probably super disappointed by this confession. I can tell because I see something come over many of you around this time of year... something that turns the sweetest, classiest people I know into gore-seeking, ghoul-loving, walking-dead-watching fiends.

We all have our things. I won't judge.

I've thought about why I'm not particularly fond of Halloween, and I've only been able to come up with one good reason: One of my earliest memories of having the bejeezus scared outta me.

A 3-year-old me. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Not being mentally mature enough to understand that it was fake. And a lifelong fear of dead people, cemeteries, and pretty much anything dealing with ghosts or scariness thereafter.

I have enjoyed some parts of Halloween throughout the years. In fact, when I was in elementary school, I couldn't wait for the Halloween Carnival we'd have each year {though I'd stay away from the Haunted House put on by the 8th graders at all costs. Not a "double dog dare" could get me step foot near it until late middle school.}. I loved trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. Adored being allowed to wear makeup & high heels outside the house for no real reason. Thoroughly enjoyed coloring pumpkins and bats and black cats.

But that's about as far as my Halloween appreciation grew. {Except, of course, for that short time in college when Halloween was an excuse to go out mid-week in minimal clothing and maximum makeup without anyone so much as batting an eye. Sort of.}


Nurse Kristin, me {Officer D.}, & Kelly the Kitty at The Swamp in Gainesville. Hey, I didn't judge you.

So, yeah, I am not the biggest fan of spooky things. I still avoid horror movies because I will have nightmares for months on end {and because under-eye bags are not my best look}. I save my money for general "Fall" decor rather than on mummies, vampires, and goblins.

Go ahead, you can say it: I'm a party pooper.

But, since I like you guys so much, and I know that lots of you are Halloween Lovers... I decided to bake up a little something just for you.

This week's Willow Bird Baking Challenge was to make stuffed cookies. So, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone {no pun intended!}, and whip up a little something that would serve both purposes.

These Black Widow Bite Cookies are about as creepy as you will see me get for Halloween. {Mostly because spiders are extremely frightening to me in general.} These dark chocolate cookies are stuffed with raspberry jam so that when you take a bite...

You get your gory, Halloween special effect. ;)

I am not going to lie to you, the cookies pictured above were the only 3 cookies I decorated this way out of the entire batch. I have no patience for this type of decorating, and I don't know how some of you out there make such gorgeous and elaborate baking creations!

Though I threw in the towel after 3 black widows, you are welcome to make an entire family of creepy crawlers if you please. As for the rest of my cookies, I turned them into lovely Dark Chocolate-Raspberry  Thumbprint Cookies...

That's as dark as my "dark side" gets.

Whether you're into the spooky fun, or are a scaredy cat like me, I hope these cookies will satisfy your sweet tooth!

Black Widow Bite Cookies

1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dark chocolate cocoa powder {I used Hershey's Special Dark}
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

For Filling:

1/2 cup raspberry jam

For Decoration:

1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
Malted Milk Balls {about 15}
Semi sweet chocolate chips for faces {about 15}
Red sprinkle balls for eyes {about 30}
Red decorating icing
Other helpful tools: Piping bags, toothpick

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a sheet pan by lining with parchment paper or a silicone backing mat. Set aside.

2. Sift together all dry ingredients.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and egg yolks until smooth. Slowly add dry ingredients a little at a time until fully incorporated.

4. With a cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure, scoop out a ball of dough. Make an indentation with your thumb and fill with about a teaspoon {maybe a little bit less} of raspberry jam.

5. Scoop out a half tablespoon or so of dough and flatten between hands to form a "cover" for your cookie. Place on top on filled half of cookie and carefully seal the edges completely. Place on lined baking sheet.  Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough. {Or if you get lazy, just make Thumbprint Cookies!} ;)

6. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until set.

7. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet before moving. Once slightly cool, move to a baking rack to cool completely.

8. To decorate:

• Using the red decorator's icing, make the classic black widow "hour glass" on each malted milk ball. Set aside and allow icing to set slightly.
• Squirt a small dot of melted chocolate in the center of each cookie as "glue" for the body. Place decorated malted milk ball on top and push down lightly to adhere.  
• Squirt a small dot of melted chocolate in the front of the malted milk ball. Place a chocolate chip there as the spider's head.  
• Adhere red sprinkles as eyes onto chocolate chips using melted chocolate, or use red icing if desired. 
• Create long "legs" by drawing 4 lines of melted chocolate on either side of the malted milk ball body.

Get as creative as you want, no two spiders are alike! ;)