Spiders are yummy too

The best thing about food is its powerful ability to inspire traditions and build strong family ties.  Memories built during family gatherings that involve special treats and food oriented rituals are very strong and they stay with us throughout our lifetimes. I have told my two sons on occasion that when they think of their mother, I want them to think of good things coming from our family’s kitchen, not all the times I have set off the fire alarm!  They assure me that they will, and thankfully neither are afraid to put in a special request for a particular item when it is a birthday or holiday.

Today’s blog is not from my kitchen but from the kitchen of my dear sister Linda.  She has been blessed with three small grandchildren (under 5!) and today they are having a family get together.  She happened to mention that she is making spider cookies so I immediately asked her to send me pictures.  Lucky for all of us not only is she a great cook and baker, she rocks the iPhone camera.

These peanut butter cookies come from one of my favourite baking sites – AllRecipes.com – the link to the recipe can be found here

She replaced the shortening with butter because she prefers the taste, in her words “who uses shortening in cookies?” The baker in me agrees!  The dietitian?  We will talk about all things fat and baking related in another post.  She also mentioned that she would look for smaller chocolate balls for the heads and make her own eyes out of frosting.  If you’re going that route, you’ll have to use a white shortening for the frosting to get the same shade, or use a royal icing.  I’ve included a link to my favourite royal icing recipe that is easy to do and simple to reduce in batch size.  In the coming weeks, we will be talking about piping tips, piping bags and basic decorating so we can take a look at how to do that, maybe in time for Santa cookies.

Here is another look at these great cookies – Linda’s grandkids are so lucky to have such a talented gramma!

Yours in the spirit of a delicious Hallowe’en!

Victoria