How to ‘Spiderweb’ Your Halloween Desserts

Dip one cookie in the dark chocolate. Put it on a cooling rack or on parchment paper. Immediately use the piping bag to make a spiral with the white chocolate (you could also make a three-concentric-circle bullseye pattern if that’s easier for you). Immediately use a toothpick or the very tip of a small paring knife to drag a line from the center to the outer edge of the cookie. Turn the cookie, or your body, and do another line next to it. Continue this motion around the entire circle, always dragging from the center to the outer edge. The hot chocolate will close up any dips and you’ll have a beautifully haunted cookie. Normally, for efficiency, you would want to dip all the cookies, pipe all the lines, then drag the patterns; but for marbling, it’s crucial to do each cookie one at a time to prevent the dark chocolate from setting before the white chocolate pattern is drawn. Microwave the chocolate periodically to keep the pattern smooth. You’ll know when the chocolate is starting to set, as it won’t drag as smoothly.

You can do this technique with contrasting colors of any batter, icing, or glaze of a loose consistency. Simply take a small portion of the base color and mix in a little food coloring. Pipe a spiral, and use a small knife to pull out the pattern. If you still feel shaky on the method, ask your kid to do it. Odds are, their circle drawing skills are more practiced than yours.