Black & White Spider Cookies

Name: Black & White Spider Cookies
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.
Ingredients: 1 package yellow cake mix (regular size); 2 large eggs; 1/2 cup water; ICING:; 2/3 cup water; 1/3 cup light corn syrup; 8 cups confectioners' sugar; 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped; 1 to 3 tablespoons warm water

Those eight-legged creatures aren't so creepy when you turn them into cookies. Make these treats any time of year—just skip the cobwebs and spiders. —Taste of Home Food Styling Team

Ingredients

1 package yellow cake mix (regular size)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup water
ICING:
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 to 3 tablespoons warm water

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs and water; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
For icing, in a large heavy saucepan, combine water and corn syrup; bring just to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat; whisk in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth.
In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate. Stir in 1 cup of icing and 1 tablespoon warm water until smooth. (Icings will thicken as they stand; stir in additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time, to thin if necessary.)
Spoon chocolate icing over half of each cookie; spread evenly. Spoon vanilla icing over the remaining half of cookies; spread evenly. Let stand until set.
Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert #2 round pastry tip. Fill the bag with remaining vanilla icing; pipe a spider web onto the chocolate half of each cookie.
Using another bag, pipe spiders onto cookies with remaining chocolate icing. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts

1 cookie: 218 calories, 3g fat (1g saturated fat), 14mg cholesterol, 120mg sodium, 49g carbohydrate (39g sugars, 0 fiber), 1g protein.

Originally published as Spider Black & White Cookies in Taste of Home October 2011

Reviews

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Average Rating:

BrightFirefly

Oct 6, 2012

Turned out exactly like the picture - very sweet and fluffy. Easy and fun to make. Big Hit with the family! Icing was a perfect white for me - not sure why others had problems?
RKRROG

Nov 1, 2011

I made this recipe as part of a Halloween cookie tray for work. My picky son was worried that there would not be any left for him because he liked them so much. My coworkers raved about them also and said that they should be a yearly part of Halloween baking. The cookie is light and fluffy with the frosting just sweet enough comparable to eating a glazed donut. They were also very fun to make and turned out very cute, just as shown on the recipe.
WendyPeterson

Oct 28, 2011

I found the cookies taste much better than they look. My white icing was very thin & clear. It took several coats to make it appear white & then I didn't have enough left to pipe the web. Had tons of chocolate icing left over though. I'll try again though with the modified recipe. They were tasty!
KScales

Oct 27, 2011

Due to the comments here, we have reviewed and retested this recipe. We have made some minor changes and regret we didn't catch these changes prior to publishing it. The recipe has been modified and is correct as shown here.This is a sweet icing and it will be on the thin side in order to have a nice smooth finish on the cookies. It will thicken up some if allowed to stand before piping the spider webs.Taste of Home Test Kitchen
croy0214

Oct 23, 2011

I agree this cookie is very sweet. I am going to try a sugar cookie next time. Not sure what to do about the frosting though. They were very cute (minus the spider...didnt come out so good...left him off the cookies)
h2oville

Oct 19, 2011

have not made these cookies, but since you all think they were failures, why not build on the idea and make sugar cookies and frosting of your choice and still make the spider web cookies..........
kimelena1

Oct 19, 2011

also - make your own white icing. this was fine when making the chocolate; but the white had no flavor other than the sugar and way too thin
merchenbrecher

Oct 19, 2011

Why on earth would you send out this recipe as a "member exclusive" when the results have the potential to be so poor? I used to tell people that I loved to use TOH recipes because they're always good and so down-to-earth. Not any more.
kimelena1

Oct 18, 2011

following the directions exactly, the cookies are too puffy and don't work for B&W cookies at all. Really disappointing, as I was making to send to my daughters at school
beekeepergold

Oct 18, 2011

Easy & cute. Too much corn syrup. Skip it make simple syrup you may have in the fridge with water & sugar.