Spooky Spider Peanut Butter Cookies

Time: 45 mins | Serves: 12

Ingredients

Cookies:

• ½ cup + 2 tblsp spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ cup Nuttelex (or other vegan margarine/butter), melted
• ¼ cup + 2 tblsp Mayver’s Dark Roasted Crunchy Peanut Butter
• ½ cup coconut sugar heaped
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Chocolate Ganache:

• ½ cup light coconut milk (from a tin)
• 125g quality dark chocolate
• 3 tblsp coconut oil
• 1 tblsp rice malt syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Extras:

• 20g quality dark chocolate
• 24 cachous (make sure they’re vegan friendly, ie no shellac or gelatine)

Method

1. Start by making the chocolate ganache. On the stovetop, gently heat all the ganache ingredients until the chocolate has melted, and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool, before putting the mix in the fridge to set completely.
2. To make the cookies, first, pre-heat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with paper. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and a touch of salt.
3. Separately, whisk the coconut sugar with the melted vegan margarine (or alternative) and vanilla essence. Stir through the Mayver’s Dark Roasted Crunchy Peanut Butter until combined.
4. Mix the wet mix into the dry until a dough is formed – you may need to use your hands! Divide into 12 equal balls and flatten onto the prepared tray. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie to create an indent. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, check the cookies – they may need to be gently indented again. Be careful! They’ll be hot. Turn the tray around and bake the cookies for another 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely, before transferring to a wire rack.

Creating the Spiders!

1. Once the cookies have completely cooled, it’s time to decorate! Gently scoop small portions of ganache into each cookie indent. This is the head! Now, press 2 cachous into one side of the ganache to create eyes.
2. Next, melt the remaining 20g of chocolate, and, using a butter knife, drizzle 4 lines of chocolate onto each side of the ganache “head” to create legs. Put the cookies in the fridge to set the chocolate legs, before serving!

A big thanks to Ash from @innerpickle for this spooky recipe! and mayvers.com.au/recipes

GF / DF / V