Halloween Sweet Treats: Cheeky Chocolate Bats & Firework Cookie Pops

For our ‘Sweet Treat’ feature, we bring you a taste bud-tingling, saliva-inducing recipe every week. As it's Halloween, we are bringing you two scarily scrumptious recipes, courtesy of our good friends at Dr. Oetker. Get into the spirit with Cheeky Chocolate Bats & Firework Cookie Pops…                                                                                                        Cheeky Chocolate Bats (Makes 9) Ingredients: 125g (4 ½ oz) plain cake crumbs 1 sachet (25g) Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder 40g (1 ½ oz) icing sugar 50g (2oz) unsalted butter, melted 5ml (1 tsp) Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract 150g Dr. Oetker Fine Cooks’ 72% Extra Dark Chocolate To decorate: 75g (3oz) Dr. Oetker Fine Cooks’ 72% Extra Dark Chocolate Dr. Oetker White Designer Icing Dr. Oetker Bright Writing Icing (Red) Method: 1. Put the cake crumbs in a mixing bowl. Sift the cocoa Ppowder and icing sugar on top. Mix in the melted butter and vanilla extract until well combined. 2. Either using a cake pop baller or your hands, form the mixture into 9 x approx. 4cm (1¾ inch) diameter balls and put on a plate lined with baking parchment. Cover and chill for 30 minutes until firm. 3. Meanwhile, make the bat wings. Break 150g of the extra dark chocolate into pieces and put into a heatproof bowl. Place over a saucepan of barely simmering water to melt. Remove from the water and leave to cool for 10 minutes. 4. Using a bat shaped cookie cutter or template, trace 9 sets of wings spaced a little apart on sheets of baking parchment – each wing needs to be about 7cm (2 ¾ inch) long, and approx. 4cm (1 ¾ inch) deep. Put the parchment, trace side down, on a large board. 5. Spoon about one third of the melted chocolate into a small piping bag without a nozzle. Snip a little of the bag away at the end and begin piping round each wing shape to give an outline in melted chocolate. Leave for a few minutes to set before going back and filling in the centres with more melted chocolate to make them solid. Leave in a cool place to set. 6. Place a small sheet of baking parchment on another board and pipe the outline of 9 pairs of ears. Once set, fill in the centre with melted chocolate. Leave in a cool place to set. 7. Once the wings have set, pipe on the wing detail and leave aside until ready to assemble. 8. To decorate, break up the remaining extra dark chocolate into pieces and place in a small heatproof bowl. Melt as above then remove from the water and mix with the melted chocolate leftover from making the wings and ears – you may need to remelt this. 9. Line a large board with baking parchment. Working on one cake ball at a time, drop it into the chocolate and gently turn it over using a fork to coat completely. Carefully lift out the ball on the prongs of the fork and gently tap the fork several times on the side of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate and to give a smooth finish. Put the ball on the lined board. 10. Whilst the chocolate is still wet, carefully peel off a pair of wings and ears and gently press into the sides and top of the chocolate cake ball – to avoid getting fingerprints on the chocolate, you may prefer to wear thin latex gloves for this. 11. Repeat this process to cover and decorate the remaining cake balls, then put the chocolate bats in a cool place to set. If the temperature is warm, cool them in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Keep any remaining melted chocolate for the final decoration. 12. Once the bats are set, pipe on the whites of the eyes using designer icing and a big smiley mouth using red writing icing. Remelt the leftover chocolate as necessary, and either pipe or brush on small amounts for eye balls and noses. Leave for a few minutes to set and then the bats are ready to serve and enjoy!                                                                                                        Firework Cookie Pops (Makes 12) Ingredients: 100g (3 1/2oz) lightly salted butter, softened 100g (3 1/2oz) caster sugar 200g (7oz) plain flour 5ml (1tsp) Dr. Oetker Caramel Flavour 15ml (1 tbsp) whole milk To decorate: Icing sugar to dust 225g(8oz) Dr. Oetker Regal-Ice Ready to Roll White Icing 30ml (2 tbsp) clear runny honey Dr. Oetker Bright Writing Icing Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C Fan, Gas Mark 4). Line 3 baking trays with baking parchment. Put the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. 2. Sieve over the flour and stir together to make a mixture that resembles a crumble topping. Add the caramel flavour and milk. Using your hands, bring the mixture together to form a firm dough. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth and pliable. 3. Roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ cm (¼ inch). Using an 8cm (3 inch) sun shaped or flower shaped cookie cutter, cut out 12 shapes, re-rolling the dough as necessary. 4. Arrange 4 on each tray. Put a paper (not plastic) cookie pop stick underneath each piece of cookie dough and press down gently to push the dough onto the stick. Prick with a fork and chill for 30 minutes. 5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until firm and lightly golden round the edges. Leave to cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 6. To decorate, dust the work surface lightly with icing sugar and knead the regal icing until smooth and pliable. Roll out thinly and cut out 12 shapes using the same cookie cutter, re-rolling as necessary. 7. Brush the tops of each cookie with honey and stick the Icing shapes neatly on top. Using the tubes of writing icing, pipe firework-like patterns on the regal icing and leave for a few minutes for the icing to dry before serving. Your cookie pops are now ready to serve and enjoy!