Michelle Darmody: Share the scares with these Halloween monster cookies — and not the common mistakes

There are endless possibilities, gingerbread pumpkin biscuits, shortbread witches fingers, meringue ghosts, skeleton cupcakes, or you can even make a simple ghoulish chocolate bark.

The week before Halloween is a great excuse to bake something fun and whimsical. 

It is a lovely time of year to have the oven on and the smell of baking to warm the house. 

These cute spooky monsters are little nuggets of chewy, warming peanut goodness sandwiched together with smooth chocolate ganache.

There are endless possibilities, gingerbread pumpkin biscuits, shortbread witches fingers, meringue ghosts, skeleton cupcakes, or you can even make a simple ghoulish chocolate bark.

You can do this by melting chocolate and spreading it on some parchment. 

While it is still liquid and warm, sprinkle it with scary jelly sweets that will get embedded as the chocolate sheet hardens.

These cute, spooky monsters are little nuggets of chewy, warming peanut goodness, sandwiched together with smooth chocolate ganache. 

It may take a little time to cut out the marshmallow teeth and dot the marshmallow eyes for these monster Halloween treats. 

This can be done in advance and then little helpers can assist in placing them onto the edible monster’s heads. 

If your kitchen helpers are very young, you can have the cookies baked, and the ganache prepared, and just have an assembling session with all of the family.

You can of course bake these cookies as normal and eat them as they are, but that is not half as fun as biting into a chocolate-filled monster.

Monster Cookies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

You can of course bake these cookies as normal and eat them as they are, but that is not half as fun as biting into a chocolate-filled monster.

Servings

14

Preparation Time

 40 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 80g peanut butter

• 150g soft butter

• 100g golden syrup

• 1 tsp bread soda

• 170g porridge oats

• 150g plain flour

• 80g desiccated coconut

• 90g light muscovado sugar

• 2 tbsp boiling water

• for the filling and decoration

• 120ml cream

• 120g chocolate pieces

• mini marshmallows to decorate

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and line two large flat baking trays with parchment.

2. Put the peanut butter, butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat until they are melted and combined.

3. Remove the saucepan from the hob and mix in the boiling water and bread soda.

4. Mix the oats, flour, coconut and sugar together.

5. Pour the melted ingredients into the dry and combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.

6. Roll the dough into 28 balls and flatten them onto your two baking trays.

7. Bake in the centre of your oven for about ten minutes or until golden.

8. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for a few minutes so they firm up enough to be moved onto a wire rack without breaking.

9. To make the ganache, place the cream in a heavy based saucepan over a low heat. Allow it to come to a shivering stage which happens just before it boils.

10. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate pieces until they are melted. Set aside to cool.

11. Take 14 of the completely cooled cookies and top them with a spoon of cooled ganache.

12. Place the other 14 cookies on top then decorate the monsters with the marshmallow teeth and eyes. You can use a little ganache as glue to stick on the eyes.

Baker's Tips

• Mixing the bread soda into the hot water helps to remove clumps from the bread soda and disperses it evenly with the other ingredients in the recipe. Stirring the bread soda solution into the peanut butter, melted butter and golden syrup mixture, causes a bubbly reaction which also helps the cookies to rise and become light and airy.
• Do not jiggle or move your biscuits about too quickly after removing them from the oven. They will firm up once cooled slightly then you can safely transfer them onto a wire rack.
• If your biscuits are falling apart, then you probably have added either too much of the wet ingredients, or too much sugar to the recipe.
• To stop your biscuits from spreading excessively, place the tray of pre baked biscuits in the fridge before putting them into the oven. It will firm up the butter and stop the spread. This also helps to prevent the final cookies from being greasy. Changing the temperature of butter will generally alter the way it works within a recipe.
• If you would like to make your biscuits extra crispy you can cook them on a lower temperature for a few minutes longer.
• When making the ganache it is important to stop the cream from heating just before it boils, this is the shivering stage when it is beginning to wobble on the surface and you will see ever so tiny bubbles around the edge. Take it off the heat when you see this happening and then stir in the chocolate pieces until you have a smooth glossy finish.
• Break the chocolate into small even size pieces so they all melt quickly and at the same speed.
• You can use the ganache to draw the eyes on the marshmallows or get an icing pen in a baking supply shop. The ganache is also great for sticking on the eyes. Dip them back of your marshmallow eye into some ganache and then gently press it onto the top of the cookie monster.
• If your cookies become too hard you can store them in an airtight container with a slice of apple; this will help them soften up again then make your monsters as instructed.
• When the cookies are filled with ganache it is best to eat them that day or to store them in the fridge for a night and eat them the next day.
• The cookie dough freezes very well.

3 delicious variations

Macadamia & white chocolate chip cookies

For this version use 100g of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped and 100g of white chocolate and add them after step 5.

Chocolate dipped cookies

Make the cookies as per the recipe and instead of sandwiching them together with ganache melt 200g of dark chocolate over some boiling water. 

Dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate, allow the excess to fall back into the bowl and then lay the cookie onto parchment until the chocolate firms up.

Ginger cookies

With a simple tweak these cookies can become quite different, the addition of ginger adds a new dimension. 

Use 20g of crystalised ginger, finely chopped and ¼ tsp of ground ginger. Omit the peanut butter and add an extra 20g of desiccated coconut. 

With this version I would make 14 large cookies instead of 28 small ones and bake them for about three minutes longer.