Peanut butter-and-chocolate spider cookies

For the cookies:
• 70 g white sugar
• 50 g light brown sugar
• 65 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 130 g smooth peanut butter
• 1 free-range egg, at room temperature
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 95 g cake flour
• ¼ t bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ t salt
For the decoration:
• 50 g milk chocolate, melted
• 12 Lindt chocolate balls
• 24 candy eyes

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. To make the cookies, place both sugars in a large bowl. Add the butter and peanut butter, then beat at a medium speed until the mixture is smooth, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix everything until nicely combined, about 1 minute.

4. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Beat at a low speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.

5. Roll the mixture into balls just slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball, then place them on the baking tray about 7 cm apart. Use your fingers to gently flatten the dough ever so slightly – do not flatten them too much. Bake until they’re a nice golden colour, about 12 minutes.

6. Remove the tray from the oven, then, using the back of a teaspoon, gently make indents in the middle of each cookie deep enough to hold a Lindt chocolate ball.

7. Pop the cookies back in the oven and bake until they’re lightly golden around the edges, about 5 minutes. Leave to cool completely before decorating.

8. To decorate, place the melted chocolate into a small piping bag. Squeeze a small amount of chocolate into the indent of each cookie, then place a Lindt chocolate ball on top, positioned so that the bottom of the balls (which have small round indents) are displayed as mouths. Using a bit of melted chocolate, attach two candy eyes to each Lindt chocolate ball. Pipe four spider legs on each side of each cookie.

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Extracted with permission from The Lucky Kitchen by Angie Batis Durrant