Sunday, 3 November 2013

Halloween treat - chocolate and pretzel spiderwebs

Before eating our Halloween bat toast and tricken soup, we made chocolate and pretzel spiderwebs.  Like the bat toast these were more a gift of serendipity than result of any planning.  I had most of the goodies in the cupboard and didn't know what to do with the white chocolate.  (Sometimes planning can go awry.)
 
All I needed was the liquorice for the spider legs.  This liquorice in turn happened to be useful for another spidery halloween treat that I will share soon.

I had promised Sylvia we would make the spiders webs as a treat.  When I came to making them she was dismissive.  After all the television was on.  I stood puzzling over how much room I needed for these long pretzel sticks (maybe they should have been broken in half).  Three seemed to take up half the table.  Then Sylvia saw all the fun foods I was playing with.  The telly was turned off.  In seconds she was by my side to help out. 

How to make chocolate and pretzel spiderwebs: to make the spider webs we place the pretzel sticks in a star on baking paper.  Melt white chocolate and place in a ziplock bag with a tiny corner cut off (or a piping bag) and pipe circles around the sticks, starting in the middle.  Pipe a blob of white chocolate in the middle and arrange 8 liquorice legs and two overlapping chocolate buttons to make the spider's body.  Pipe white chocolate eyes on the head.

Ours weren't brilliant but - like this glowing skeleton that E bought Sylvia - they were fun.  I did the spider bodies first which meant I couldn't put the web in the centre.  And you might notice I don't have a steady hand when it comes to piping lines.  They didn't take too long to set and I could stack them in a corner while we ate dinner.  Thicker webs might have been good because ours were quite fragile.  While not perfect, they were delicious and fun.  Which is all that matters, after all.

Update October 2015: I made these again but without the spider which was too fiddly.  I had better success in piping the webs in chocolate with some of them - still a few were a bit wobbly.  I set a few in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and then found out of the fridge they went soft again.  Perhaps I was being too impatient.  I have also updated the post with a new photo at the top!
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12 comments:

  1. Kari3 November 2013 at 16:16

    If I'm ever left with white chocolate, I don't know what to do with it either. This looks like an excellent use, and a creative one!

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    1. Johanna GGG5 November 2013 at 23:28

      Thanks Kari - it is a fun way to use white chocolate - I used the rest of my stash in blondies today - really good too (will blog about)

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  2. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella3 November 2013 at 18:45

    Hehe isn't it funny what will get a child's attention! Nothing used to tear me away from the television but we never made things like this! :P

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    1. Johanna GGG5 November 2013 at 23:29

      Thanks Lorraine - I had been surprise she wasn't interested initially but I think there was so much sugar and chocolate how could she stay away :-) I think I used to leave the tv because I had to for dinner or bedtime!

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  3. Anonymous3 November 2013 at 21:39

    I think I'd make that as an any-time treat!

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    1. Johanna GGG5 November 2013 at 23:30

      Thanks Veganopoulous - I'd make them more if I could pipe decent webs :-) goodness I dislike piping

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  4. Katie3 November 2013 at 22:25

    Wow what a neat idea and very effective. Love the spider in the middle too

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    1. Johanna GGG5 November 2013 at 23:31

      Thanks Katie - it was a great idea - and I do take credit for the spider in the middle - because I had bought chocolate buttons and then decided not to use them for owl eyes on cupcakes (what was I thinking!)

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  5. ~~louise~~4 November 2013 at 00:57

    So cute, Johanna. If spiders can be cute that is:) I'm sure Sylvia was much more interested in getting those leggies straight than watching some old television programs, lol...

    Thank you so much for sharing...

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    1. Johanna GGG5 November 2013 at 23:32

      Thanks Louise - of course spiders can be cute - do you have little ones that are called money spiders that are quite harmless, and daddy long legs are just silly rather than scary - actually I think Sylvia's plan was just to eat the leggies rather than watch tv :-)

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  6. Anonymous11 November 2013 at 21:10

    They are gorgeous! I love the salty pretzel chocolate combo too :D

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    1. Johanna GGG11 November 2013 at 22:57

      Thanks Jas - I have seen prettier spiderwebs but they did taste surprisingly good

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