Bernices Halloween Spiders Recipes

Steps:

• Chop the chocolate confectioners' coating and place into a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the chow mein noodles so they are evenly distributed. Spoon out to desired size onto waxed paper. Let cool completely before storing or serving.

Steps:

• Melt chocolate chips in microwave. Check after 1 minute to make sure they don't start burning. Stir, then put back in for 20 sec. intervals until completely melted.
• Stir in Chow Mein noodles. Keep adding noodles until you think you have enough to cover all with chocolate.
• Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.
• Add 2 M&M's on top of noodles, for spider eyes.
• Note: Add 2-4 T water, if needed, to thin chocolate chips.

Steps:

• Microwave chocolate and peanut butter in a microwave safe mixing bowl for about 30 seconds on high.
• If not melted and then microwave again in 5 second intervals.
• Mix well until it is a smooth paste.
• Add noodles and coat them well.
• Spoon the mixture in dessertspoon sized blobs onto greaseproof paper or into patty papers.
• Place in fridge until the chocolate sets.
• You can also give these spiders eyes by sticking chocolate chips onto them.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 310 degrees and space half bag of unwrapped candies on two parchment lined baking sheets. Melt until JUST softened (Around 5-7 minutes) and pull off bits and stretch into 1" - 1 1/2" spider legs. You'll have to keep placing baking sheets into the oven to reheat and I won't lie-this part is tedious.
• Once your poor, semi-burned fingers feel like snapping and you just can't make any more, the fun begins! Using any small nuggets of candy left on your sheet, use a pair of long stemmed tweezers and torch to heat. Glue one macadamia nut and half of one peanut together. You can adhere these on a flat parchment-lined surface OR you can glue the peanut upwards on a slight angle and make spiders that look as though they're ready to pounce!
• Use a brûlée torch or hand held lighter to heat base joints of spider legs and apply 8 to each nut cluster. Once your spiders are adequately horrifying, spray the tops with a quick burst of food coloring spray and prepare to terrify and amaze your guests.

Steps:

• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, minus the egg wash, mozzarella, marinara, and spider eyes. If possible, put the activated charcoal in your bowl first and gently cover it with the other ingredients. The charcoal powder poofs and gets airborne very easily. The dough should feel fairly dry, like pizza dough.
• Cover and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Then perform a round of stretching and folding on the dough. You probably won't need any more gluten development but if your dough doesn't feel strong and elastic already, you can do another round of stretching and folding after a 20-30 minute rest.
• Let the dough rise until it has expanded by about 75%. This took 8 hours from when I mixed the dough (cool kitchen). At this point you can refrigerate the dough overnight or begin shaping now.
• Shaping and Final Proof (See the Photo Gallery below)
• Place a sheet of parchment paper on a half baking sheet or an even larger baking sheet.
• Scrape the fermented dough out of your bowl onto a lightly oiled work surface.
• Press down on the dough to evenly de-gas it. Cut it in half, then cut one of the halves in half (two quarters). Finally, cut one of the quarters into four pieces (eighths). For less spider head and more spider leg length, cut the second half differently: 1/3 for the head and 2/3 for the four leg tubes.
• Roll the half into a tight ball for the body. Place it on the parchment paper.
• Put cheese in the center of the quarter and wrap it into a ball for the head. Place this 1-2 inches in front of the body, leaving space for the legs.
• Press the four small dough pieces flat and line them with cheese. Wrap the dough around the cheese, sealing it on all sides, and then roll the tube longer under your palms. Lay the four tubes across the space between the body and head so that each tube is two legs.
• Lay a damp cloth or oiled plastic wrap over the dough for the final proof. My dough proofed for about 1.5 hours as it was slightly chilled from being refrigerated overnight.
• Baking and Decorating
• Preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Brush the surface of your spider with a beaten egg and then load it into the oven.
• Bake the spider for about 35 minutes or until the center of the body segment is over 190°F. The legs will crisp up but shouldn't burn.
• Let the bread cool for about 30 minutes and then cut out the well in the spider's body for your dip. You can do this by placing the top of the dip cup you've chosen on the spider and tracing with your knife around it. (The spider "guts" are a tasty snack heated up with some extra cheese and marinara.)
• Warm up your marinara, place it in the cup, and fit the cup into the spider's body.
• Serve and enjoy!

Steps:

• Spread 1 tsp peanut butter on the tops of 24 crackers.
• Place three noodles on each side of cracker to look like three legs on each side (I know - not anatomically correct).
• Top with remaining crackers.
• Place small dot of peanut butter on two raisins per cracker and stick the raisins on the crackers to look like eyes.

Steps:

• In a microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate for 2 minutes at 50% power, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until melted; let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in marshmallows. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Cut licorice into 2-in. pieces; press eight pieces into each mound for legs. Press two chocolate balls into each for eyes. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.