Coconut Marshmallow Spiders

INGREDIENTS

Some dark chocolate melting wafers

Some pretzel sticks

Some sweetened shredded coconut

Some red and green food coloring

Some regular sized marshmallows

Candy eyes

SUPPLIES

Some SilPat

A cutting board

A food processor

Kitchen shears

DIRECTIONS

Melt the wafers according to the directions on the package.

Break some pretzel sticks in half. You’ll need 3 or 4 halves for each spider.

Dip the non-broken end of a pretzel stick into the melted chocolate, allow the excess to drain, and place it on a parchment-lined cutting board.

Once all of the pretzels are dipped, place them in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes to set.

Place equal amounts of red and green food coloring into a food processor.

Add 1/4 cup of coconut to the food processor and blitz until the coconut is evenly colored.

The red and green mix together to make a kind of brownish gray color. Very spidery.

Cut a marshmallow in half crossways with kitchen shears or a knife.

Cut all around the sides of the marshmallow, about a third of the way in. The legs will go in this slit.

Remove the pretzels from the refrigerator, then dip a marshmallow half in the melted chocolate, drain the excess, and place it on the cutting board.

Dip the undipped ends of two pretzels into the melted chocolate, drain the excess, and press them into opposite sides of the dipped marshmallow, inserting them into the slit you cut.

Repeat until your spider has 6 legs.

If you insist on arachnological accuracy, feel free to add 2 more legs. I think 6 looks better. Kind of like how Mickey Mouse only has 4 digits per hand. Take your complaints to Walt.

Add the eyes. Two is cute, more is creepy. You do you.

Sprinkle some coconut over the spider, allowing it to adhere to the melted chocolate. Press small amounts of coconut into any bare spots, or don’t and have a scraggly spider with bald patches. Creeeepyyy.

Continue until you’ve made as many spiders as you want, then place them in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set.