I wanted to make some snacks for Halloween so I decided to make these Chocolate bat cookies. The dough was very easy to make and the cookies were really yummy! I used dairy-free spread instead of butter which made it a bit difficult to stamp out the bats.

You’ll need:

• 2 cups of flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• ½ cup dark muscovado sugar
• 100g butter/ dairy-free spread
• For the eyes: 1 tsp powder sugar mixed with a few drops of water

How to make the cookies:

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
2. In another bowl mix the butter/spread with the sugar until  fluffy. You can use an electric mixer if you like.  Add the egg and beat for a few minutes, until  it becomes creamy.
3. Add a few spoonful of the flour mixture, mix well, then add the rest gradually. Combine it into a dough.
4. Divide the dough in half and make two balls. Cover these with cling-film and put them in the fridge for 1 hour or on the freezer for 15 minutes.
5. Heat the oven to 180°C.
6. Put one of the dough balls on a board, lined with baking paper. Roll the dough out to 3m thickness, then stamp out as many bats as you can. Collect and combine the remaining dough, roll it out again and stamp out more bats.
7. Repeat with the other ball of dough.
8. You should get about 20 bats. Put these on a non-stick baking sheet or a tray lined with baking paper.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are cooked through and crispy on the top.
10. Let the cool then transfer them to a plate.
11. Mix the sugar with the water and, using a  wooden skewer, drop eyes onto the bats.  Let the eyes set completely.
12. Enjoy!

Tips

• You can use icing pen or white chocolate pen for the eyes.
• You can stamp out other shapes too – I made a few hearts!
• If you’re using dairy-free spread, put a piece of cling film on top of dough when you’re rolling it out – this way the dough will stick to the rolling pin!