Spooky Mummy Cookies

For Halloween this year we had some of my daughter’s friends over for pizza before they all went out trick-or-treating together– not being content to leave well enough alone with regard to sugar consumption, for some reason I decided that what they really needed was cookies to munch on before setting out on their candy quest.

Not just any cookies, though– of course they had to be themed. I thought about doing a standard iced cookie recipe, perhaps making spiderweb patterns using the same technique I used on the peanut butter fudge ice cream cake, but then I remembered a tutorial I’d seen a while back about making webs from melted marshmallows. and knew that I wanted to give it a shot.

Rather than stick with spiderwebs, though, I decided to go a different route and make mummies (since they are apparently my daughter’s “spook of choice” this Halloween season when it comes to scary stories).

I first made a batch of my favorite chocolate cutout cookies, cut in circle shapes. Recipe is here.

Then I piped a smooth coat of chocolate glaze on top to form a nice base for my decorations. The glaze really couldn’t be simpler– you just stir the following ingredients together:

1/2 cup cocoa

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tbs. corn syrup

3 tbs. milk (or more if necessary to thin out)

It may take a while for the wet ingredients to incorporate with the dry, but keep stirring, it’ll come together into a nice, dark, smooth glaze.

Transfer to a piping bag or squeeze bottle. I will note that if you opt for the squeeze bottle you may need to microwave the glaze for about 15 seconds to get it thin enough to pour into a small bottle– I didn’t have a funnel, and before heating the glaze was just thick enough that it didn’t flow smoothly through the narrow neck, resulting in this:

I piped a circle around each cookie, then filled in with some scribbles before using the tip of my squeeze bottle to push the glaze around and fill in the blank spots. The glaze is runny enough to flow down to a smooth surface.

While the glaze was still wet I stuck two M&Ms onto each cookie to make eyes. I used my food coloring markers to draw in pupils as well. Then I let the glaze set for an hour (though if I’d had extra time I’d have given it at least 2-3 hours).

Finally (and here’s the fun part), I took about 15 marshmallows and microwaved them in a bowl for 30 seconds. Then I stirred until they became smooth and liquid. I kept stirring until the mixture was warm, but cool enough to handle.

To decorate the cookies, I put each cookie on top of a small can– just enough to elevate it off the cookie sheet and make it easier to stretch the marshmallow strings over the edges. Then I took small amounts of the warm marshmallow and stretched them between my fingers before laying over the cookie in various directions. Since these were supposed to be mummy bandages I layered them on pretty heavily.

If your marshmallow mixture stiffens up, don’t worry– just microwave it again until it re-melts. With these (especially if your glaze isn’t fully set), it’s better to go with a slightly runnier marshmallow– otherwise when you try to pull your fingers away they’ll just pull the glaze off with the marshmallow strings. When you’ve finished your cookie, just pull it off of the can, letting any dangling marshmallow rip off. (you’ll end up with a sticky can by the time you’re done, though)

These turned out very cute, though sticky. I will note that if I’d been making spiderwebs I might have let the marshmallow mixture cool down just a bit more to let it stretch out and be more thin and stringy, but for this application I found that thicker worked better.