Spider peanut butter blossoms

We had a halloween bake sale at work this week, which inspired me to create a spider version of the classic hershey's peanut blossom cookies.  Taste is usually one of my biggest focuses when baking, however with halloween this weekend, I wanted something to fit the theme as well.  When I first googled for halloween baked goods, I found that many of the recipes didn't look very tasty, and seemed like they took way too much effort decoration wise (like complicated iced sugar cookies!).  Then luckily I stumbled upon some pictures of similar peanut butter spider cookies, and knew I had found a winner.

The base recipe for these - the classic hershey's peanut blossom - is delicious, and should be a staple in your recipe book.  I used nerds for eyes (I do not have the time to fashion my own candy eyes!), and just piped on melted chocolate for legs.  The decorating aspect of it only added about 10 minutes to the whole process.  So if you have a halloween party coming up this weekend, get baking!  Happy Halloween!

Spider Peanut Butter Blossoms
Adapted from hersheys
Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tb milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
additional 1/3 cup white sugar to roll cookies in

3-4 dozen hersheys kisses or mini peanut butter cups
50 grams of milk or dark chocolate for decoration
1 box of nerds

Make the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 375 f/190c

1. Cream the peanut butter and shortening in a medium bowl
2. Mix in both sugars, followed by egg, milk and vanilla, followed by the remaining dry ingredients.
3. Roll balls of cookie dough into 1 inch balls between the palms of your hands, roll each ball into the additional 1/3 cup sugar, then place on a cookie tray, about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown.  Unwrap your chocolates while the cookies are in the oven
5. Just after removing the cookies from the oven, gently push your a chocolate into the top of each cookie.  Let them rest about 5 minutes (during which time the chocolates will melt), and then gently place your nerd eyes into the melty chocolates.
6. Melt the remaining 50 grams of chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave (I use 30 second increments, stirring between each to avoid burning).  Spoon your melted chocolate into the corner of a zip lock baggie.  Cut off a tiny corner of the bag, and pipe your legs onto each cookie.

Allow to cool, then store in an air-tight container.