Spooky Spider Cookies

I went to a toddler Halloween party with a few of my younger children this fall, and saw a version of these cookies. I thought they were cute, but they were all brightly colored and I thought that a spookier variety could be made.

Here is what I did:

I started by taking lengths of black shoe string licorice and cutting them into 1 1/2" long 'legs' for the spiders.

Then I twisted open Oreo cookies. I found that if I put them in the microwave for 5-7 seconds, it made it so much easier to open, and I had way fewer broken cookies.

Then I pressed my legs into the warm icing,

Put the top back on.
I chose to use red mini-jelly beans for eyes. They could look like angry eyes. Using a knife, put a bit of icing on the jelly bean to make it stick to the cookie.

Add the eyes.

The last thing to do is watch the kids be torn between a desire for a treat, and the desire to run away from these scary spiders!