Vanilla icing cobwebs cover these chewy Chocolate Nut cookies, making them chocolaty, nutty, and spidery creepy all in one delicious bite.

Chocolate Nut Cobweb Cookies

Ingredients:

Dough:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 cup toasted walnuts, finely chopped

Vanilla Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 to 4 teaspoons warm milk (preferably whole milk)

Topping:

About ½ cup granulated sugar for pressing and sprinkling

Directions:

Dough:

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour and salt, sift or whisk together to mix. Set aside.
   
   
2. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed about 1 minute until it is smooth and light in color. Add sugar; cream together until mixture appears light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly. Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly mixed. Add the melted and cooled chocolate and continue to beat until thoroughly mixed.
   
   
3. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts.
   
   
4. Cover dough and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight.
   
   
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare 2 large baking sheets; lightly grease with shortening, or line with parchment paper, or line with a non-stick baking mat.
   
   
6. Remove dough from refrigerator and shape all the dough into small balls, about 1” in diameter. Use enough balls to bake one pan of cookies (about 12) and keep remainder of balls in the refrigerator until ready to use. Tip: A small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism is ideal for making uniform-sized cookies.
   
   
7. Flatten the balls into rounds from 2¼ to 2½ inches in diameter. Tip: the easiest way to flatten the balls is to use a drinking glass with the bottom of the glass lightly moistened and dipped in granulated sugar. Re-dip the glass in sugar for each cookie.
   
   Bake:
8. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until the top is dry and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet 2 to 3 minutes, then remove cookies from baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
   
   Vanilla Glaze:
9. In a medium bowl, and using an electric mixer or hand mixer, combine powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla. Add warm milk in small quantities, start with 2 teaspoons of milk, then when it’s getting close to the right consistency add milk in teaspoonfuls or just drops of milk at a time, until it is the desired consistency; for piping, the icing should be like a thick sour cream.
   
   
10. When the glaze is the right consistency, spoon into a small plastic freezer bag. Put a little piece of tape on corner to reinforce the tip, and then roll over top of bag to keep neater. (You could also use a plastic squeeze bottle with a tip available in decorating stores or a pastry bag and decorating tip), Twist the top of the bag to create some pressure to make easier to squeeze out. Cut a tiny corner off the tip of the bag.
    
    Topping:
11. Pipe a cobweb design on the top of each cookie, and then sprinkle granulated sugar over the top. Shake off the excess sugar into a bowl to reuse the excess sugar on the other cookies. Let the glaze dry 20 to 30 minutes before serving.
    
    TheBakingPan.com
    
    Adapted from: Usher, Julia, Cookie Swap, Gibbs Smith,
    Utah, 2009
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