Chocolate Spider Cookies
The base is the classic crinkle cookie, which splits open in the oven and leaves white seams across a dark surface. That works in our favour: the cracks already read as a web, and all that is left is eight legs and two eyes. The dough must chill for an hour — warm dough does not crack, it simply spreads.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 11 min
- Rest
- 1 h
- Total
- 1 h 41 min
- Servings
- 10
- Level
- Medium
- Per serving
- 195 kcal
Ingredients
Dough
Spiders
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What to use instead
Two dots of white icing with a chocolate pupil work instead of the pearls, and look more alive because no two eyes match.
Makes: 20 spiders
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
Oven
180 °C · top and bottom heat, no fan
With a fan: 160 °C
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Step 1: Beat eggs and sugar
With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar for 2 minutes until pale, then pour in the oil and vanilla and beat another 30 seconds.
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Step 2: Add the dry
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt straight into the bowl and fold until even. The dough will be soft and sticky.
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Step 3: Chill
Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. This step is not optional: warm dough gives flat discs with no cracks at all.
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Step 4: Roll in sugar
Roll 25 g balls and coat each very generously in icing sugar — the layer must be thick and opaque, or the cracks will not show up white.
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Step 5: Bake
Bake at 180°C for 10–11 minutes. They puff, crack, and look underdone in the middle, which is correct; they set on the tray.
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Step 6: Cool
Leave on the tray for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a rack. Melted chocolate on a warm cookie just runs off.
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Step 7: Draw the spiders
Melt the chocolate, put it in a bag with a tiny hole and pipe four bent legs on each side. While it is still soft, set two pearls in the middle and dot each with chocolate for a pupil.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Roll the balls twice: first in granulated sugar, then in icing sugar. The layer underneath stops the icing sugar melting away in the oven.
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Variation
Use thin pretzel sticks snapped in half and pushed into the cookies while hot — faster, and crunchier.
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Swap
Two dots of white icing with a chocolate pupil work instead of the pearls, and look more alive because no two eyes match.
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Storage
Four days in a sealed tin. Decorate on the day: piped chocolate dulls and goes matte over time.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 10 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 195 kcal | 1,950 kcal |
| Protein | 3 g | 30 g |
| Fat | 8 g | 80 g |
| Carbohydrates | 29 g | 290 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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