Batty Bats Recipes

BATTY BATS

Steps:

• Tint vanilla frosting bright blue; frost cupcakes., Add gumball eyes. Using a clean scissors or small sharp knife, cut sticks of gum into eyebrow shapes. Pinch tops to curve if desired; insert above eyes., For bat wings, with a small serrated knife, cut cookies in half. Add scalloped edges if desired. Insert two cookie halves into each cupcake., Using chocolate frosting and #3 tip, pipe pupils on eyes. For fangs, cut the white part from the candy corn. (Save removed orange sections for another use.) Add two white fangs under each mouth; press down gently.

BROWNIE BATS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, letting foil hang 2 inches over sides of pan. Spray foil with cooking spray. Make brownie batter as directed on box. Spread in pan.
• Bake 26 to 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Freeze in pan 30 minutes.
• Using foil to lift, remove brownies from pan. Use 1 3/4-inch round cutter to cut brownies into 24 rounds.
• Attach 1 chocolate wafer half to each side of brownie rounds to form wings. With cookie icing, attach 2 eyeballs to each brownie. Press 2 heart-shaped candy sprinkles (pointed side out) into each brownie to make fangs.

MINI CHEESE BALL BATS

Steps:

• Combine the room temperature cream cheese, grated parmesan cheese and pesto into a glass bowl and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. Refrigerate the cheese mixture for 1 hour.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Use a small ice cream scooper to scoop out 10 cheese balls and let rest on cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Finely chop the bunch of parsley before rolling each cheese ball. Cover cheese ball completely with finely chopped parsley.
• Press 2 olives onto cheese ball for eyes and 2 slivered almonds for vampire teeth. Press 2 green tortilla chips on each side of the cheese ball to create little bat wings. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE BAT BISCUITS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale, then beat in the yolk, the vanilla and milk. Sift the flour, coffee, cocoa and salt into the bowl, then mix together to make a soft dough. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap and chill for 15 mins.
• Dust the dough all over with a little flour, then roll it between two large sheets of baking parchment, to the thickness of a £1 coin. Remove the top layer of the paper, stamp shapes with an 8cm bat (or other) cutter, and carefully lift to the lined sheets using a palette knife. Re-roll the trimmings. Cut a 1.5cm x 5mm notch at the base of each bat's body. This is about right to sit the bats on thick tumblers; if your glasses are finer-edged, make the notches thinner so that the bats stay put. Bake for 10 mins or until the biscuits feel sandy and smell rich and chocolatey. Cool on the sheets for 5 mins, then lift the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.
• To decorate, melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave. One biscuit at a time, brush chocolate over the bat ears and wings with a small paintbrush, then cover with chocolate sprinkles. Tap off the excess. Pipe faces and fangs onto your bats, then leave to dry. Keep in an airtight container for up to a week.