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An original practice recipe, not independently kitchen-tested. Times and yields are estimates. The illustration shows the idea, not a tested result. Follow ingredient labels and appliance directions.
Some projects are fun because they are beautiful. These are fun because one bat will inevitably look surprised, another will look sleepy, and someone will give the smallest one a name. Your job is to make a brownie with a face. The personality tends to happen on its own.
Use plain supermarket brownies or a batch you have already baked and cooled using a trusted recipe. Baking and decorating do not have to be the same afternoon’s project.
Ingredients
- 12 small plain, fully baked brownie squares, about 1½–2 inches across, without perishable frosting or fillings
- 12 round chocolate wafer cookies, each broken into two semicircles
- 2 ounces (55 g) chocolate candy melting wafers, for attaching decorations
- 24 edible candy eyes
A few spare cookies can help if wings crumble, but spares are not included in the planner quantities. Check that a cookie half is a sensible size beside your brownie before buying a whole packet.
Set up your little bat workshop
Cover a tray with baking parchment. Arrange the brownies with room at both sides for their wings. Gather a dry microwave-safe bowl, a teaspoon and a small plate for broken cookie pieces. Move drinks away from the melting bowl so water cannot splash into the coating.
Make the bats
- Make the wings first. Break each cookie across its middle into two approximate semicircles. A slightly jagged edge is a useful bat-wing detail. Save very small crumbs for another use.
- Melt a little coating. Follow the wafer package’s instructions. Stir thoroughly between short heating intervals and stop once smooth. An adult should handle the hot bowl.
- Build one practice bat. Put a small dab of melted coating on the lower inside edge of each cookie half. Rest the two halves flat on the tray, overlapping the upper corners of the brownie. The tray supports the wings while the coating sets.
- Add the eyes. Use two tiny dots of coating to attach candy eyes to the front-facing top of the brownie. Let the pupils point wherever they please.
- Repeat and wait. Make the remaining bats and leave them undisturbed until the coating is firm, approximately 20 minutes in a cool room. Setting time varies with the coating and temperature.
- Lift from underneath. Slide a small spatula under the brownie and support the cookie wings when moving it. Never pick up a bat by its wings.
If a wing falls off
Check that the coating was still soft when you attached it. Add another small dab, support the wing flat and let it set again. If your brownie is too crumbly to hold decorations, plate the cookie wings beside it and keep the eyes on top. It still reads as a bat, and nobody has to watch you wrestle with a biscuit.
Serving, storage and sharing
For the best cookie texture, decorate on the day you plan to share. Follow the brownie and coating packages’ storage instructions and use the shortest applicable guidance. Keep the bats in a covered, food-safe container, in a single layer if possible. If an ingredient requires refrigeration, refrigerate the finished treats too. Their shelf life has not been tested.
Brownies, cookies and coatings commonly contain wheat, milk, egg or soy; read all labels. Candy eyes and hard cookie pieces are unsuitable for some young children. Choose an age-appropriate version and supervise decorating.
Put these beside pretzel ghosts for a two-project platter, or read the Pinterest-fail pep talk if your bats develop a look of their own.