Creepy Crawler Recipes

CREEPY-CRAWLY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the cake: Coat two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray. Line bottoms with parchment, and coat with spray. Dust with all-purpose flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flours, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.
• Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat in melted chocolate. Divide batter between pans, and smooth tops using an offset spatula.
• Bake cakes until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pans set on wire racks for 30 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks, remove parchment, and let cool completely.
• Make the ganache: Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour over chopped chocolates and butter in a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth and shiny. Let stand until thickened, about 40 minutes. Transfer 1 3/4 cups ganache to a bowl, and fold in malt balls; reserve remaining ganache.
• Transfer 1 cake to a serving platter (top side up). Spread ganache-malt ball filling on top, and top with remaining cake (top side up). Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. Cut a large wedge from cake to serve on another plate. Pour remaining ganache (reheat if necessary) over cake and wedge, and let drip down sides and into cut center of cake. Garnish cake and platter with rubber cockroaches.

CREEPY-CRAWLY BUGS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Separate dough into strips. Unroll and cut eight strips in half widthwise; set remaining strips aside. Cut sausages in half widthwise. Wrap one piece of dough around each sausage, leaving the rounded end showing. Place seam side down on an ungreased baking sheet. Place reserved breadsticks on baking sheet., Bake 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Remove bugs to a serving plate and cool 2 minutes., Insert potato sticks into baked dough to resemble legs and antennae. Decorate with ketchup and/or mustard. Serve warm. Save remaining breadsticks for another use.

CREEPY CRAWLERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
• Combine sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Roll pie dough onto a work surface and cut each circle into 16 wedges. Lightly spread butter onto each piece of dough stopping about 1/2 inch from the edge. Place 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon miniature chocolate chips on the buttered portion of the dough pieces.
• Lightly moisten the point of each wedge with water and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Roll each wedge from the outside toward the point, creating a croissant-shape; pinch edges closed.
• Beat egg white in a bowl, adding enough food coloring to reach desired color. Dip the top of each croissant-shaped dough in egg white mixture and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each with cinnamon-sugar and top with sprinkles. Place 2 miniature chocolate chips on 1 end of each for the "eyes".
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

CREEPY CRAWLER

Steps:

• Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice.
• Serve in a mason jar and garnish with gummy worms.
• That's it!

MEATBALL CREEPY CRAWLERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Separate the dough into 10 biscuits. Separate each biscuit into 2 layers.
• Wrap each meatball with a layer of dough to make a ball, pinching the edges to seal. (place the pinched edges on the bottom.).
• To make a creepy crawler, line up 10 dough covered meatballs in a squiggle pattern. Poke the shoestring potatoes (I used the chow mein noodles) in both sides of each ball to make the legs, and two poked into the top of the "head" for antennae.
• Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.
• Make a face out of olive slices.
• Place olive slices, pickle slices, carrot slices, or whatever at random points along the creepy crawler for interest.
• Serve the creepy crawlers with ketchup, mustard, or whatever you might like.

CRISPY CREEPY CRAWLY SPIDER BITES

Steps:

• For the crunch: Place the milk chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Fill a medium saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. (Alternatively, use a double boiler.) Turn off the heat, set the bowl of chocolate over the water to melt and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the cookie crumbs, peanut butter and butter. Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside. Form twenty 1/2-inch balls with the remaining crunch. Press your thumg into the center of each ball to make a hollow center. With the reserved 1/2 cup crunch, sculpt thin spider legs and twenty 1/2-inch round discs to use as the bottoms. Set aside at room temperature until you are ready to assemble the spiders.
• For the chocolate ganache: Place the dark chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil and pour over the dark chocolate. Let stand without stirring for a couple of minutes in order to let some of the chocolate melt. Stir in the butter, corn syrup and rum. Mix until smooth. Let sit at room temperature until you are ready to assemble the spiders.
• For the strawberry jelly: Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar with the pectin in a small bowl and set aside. Bring the strawberry puree to a boil in a small saucepan and slowly stir in the pectin sugar. Bring this mixture back to a low boil and add the corn syrup, lemon juice and remaining 2/3 cup sugar. Boil for approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the jelly to a small stainless mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let cool.
• To assemble: Place the milk chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Fill a large saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat, set the bowl over the water to melt and stir the chocolate until smooth.
• Transfer the strawberry jelly and chocolate ganache to two separate pastry bags and snip the ends off. Fill each hollow crunch ball with equal parts jelly and ganache and cover with the bottom pieces of crunch to form the spider bodies. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
• Lay a sheet of parchment paper over a flat surface. Arrange the spider legs on the parchment, dip the bodies in the melted chocolate with the rounded side facing up. Attach the spider body to the arranged legs. Dust with cocoa powder, if desired.

CREEPY CRAWLER

Steps:

• Spread 2 crackers with peanut butter; spread remaining crackers with cream cheese.
• Arrange crackers alternately on serving tray to resemble bug, overlapping crackers slightly.
• Add blueberries for the eyes, strawberries for the spots and apple pieces for the legs and antennae.