Let me start by saying two things.

And

Put the Red Sox and Halloween together and it is a very good day indeed!

Not a very good day for Spider Cookies, though.

My son sent me a photo of a chocolate chip cookie that had its chips dragged a bit with a toothpick to make little spiders on it.

Sounded so easy that I couldn’t wait to try it.

Not so easy to get some good looking little spiders. In fact, I didn’t even get one good looking arachnid.

The toothpick dragging didn’t work for me since the chips weren’t really melted enough to get enough for one leg, let alone 8.

I ended up with small splats that could be misshapen starfish or…not.

What to do?

Add eyes. They fix just about anything.

The cookie recipe, by the way, makes a classic, chewy bikkie that is wonderful with or without the addition of any creatures.

Spider Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2½ cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips
Candy eyes, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉.

2. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

3. Add baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until combined.

3. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bakers choice: add some additional chocolate chips to top of cookie or leave as is.

5. Bake cookies for 11 minutes.

6. Attempt to make spiders as explained here or using a piping bag to neatly apply melted chocolate legs as shown in this video. Add some candy eyes if you want your cookies looking at you.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Recipe slightly adapted from Jen’s Favorite Cookies

Here is the chocolate chip cookie with some extra chips pressed on. I love the way they look.

And the cookies without any decoration. Plain ole good chocolate chippers.

Spider fails. Hi little splat guys!

Nothing about this musical Spider is a fail.

What a beautiful voice Jane Herships has. Her 2010 album, ‘Things We Liked To Hold’, is a mesmerizing collection of gentle, quiet songs full of emotion.

Take my favorite, White Snake, for example.

“I Dreamed of a time
When little hands were holding mine
And the plans, that we made,
Had fallen apart and gone away
And in the end you’ll find
Not all of us were meant to shine

A fleeting glimpse
A knowing look
One last kiss
Can you be there for me?
The air was always there for me
And in the end you’ll find
What little hands had in mind

And, babe
Are you there?
Is it too late,
Do you still care?
If your loved one
Sticks around
While little hands hold you down
And in the end you’ll find
Hands that hold
Are hands that bind”

Check out Spider on Bandcamp, where you can learn of upcoming US tour dates and buy the music.

Cheers!