These witchy hat treats are just as endearing as witchy costumes. Their appeal is threefold: one part chocolaty cone, one part chocolaty cookie, and one part hidden treat inside!
Candies of your choice to fill hats(like fruit gummy snacks, candy corn, mellowcreme pumpkins, M&M's, fun-size candy bars, etc.)
Instructions
Make the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar, brown sugar, and butter for about 3 minutes until the mixture is fluffy.
Add in the vanilla and egg, and mix until combined. Mix in the coffee.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 2 or 3 additions, and mix together on low speed until combined. The mixture will be a little sticky.
Drop the dough onto the lined baking sheets using a 3-tablespoon sized ice cream scoop with about 2 inches between each cookie.
Bake the cookies for about 18-20 minutes. The cookies will flatten and be just firm enough to easily move with a spatula. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Coat the cones:
Place a piece of wax paper on your work surface that is large enough to hold all 12 cones.
Place the candy melts in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one until the chocolate is smooth and melted.
Hold a cone by the tip and gently cover the cone with the melted chocolate using a pastry brush to brush it on, or a spoon to smooth it on.
Once all but the tip of the cone is covered in chocolate, stand the cone on the wax paper. Use the brush or spoon to cover the tip in chocolate as well.
Repeat this with the rest of the sugar cones. Allow the cones to rest until the chocolate has hardened and can be touched. Reserve the leftover melted chocolate for assembling the hats.
Assemble the hats:
Have ready the cooled cookies, the chocolate coated sugar cones, the leftover melted chocolate (if it has hardened, microwave it in 30 second bursts, stirring between each until it is melted again.) and the candies to fill the cones.
Pick up one of the cones and fill it with the candy of your choice: the candy should come up no higher than just below the rim of the cone.
Paint melted chocolate on the rim of the cone. Take one of the cookies and place it on the cone (top of the cookie touching the cone) so that the cone is in the middle of the cookie.
Carefully invert the whole thing and set it down on your work area. It should now look like a witches hat! If the cone is wobbly on top of the cookie, dab some melted chocolate where the cone meets the cookie.
Repeat these steps to fill all the cones and join them with the cookies. Allow the hats to sit until the chocolate has hardened.
Make the hat bands:
Unroll the fruit roll-ups. (My fruit roll-ups were sticky and difficult to unroll without tearing. If yours are like this too, pop them into the freezer for 5 minutes and they will unroll easily.)
Cut each fruit roll-up lengthwise into 3 pieces. Roll each piece up from the long edge into a rope. Gently twist and stretch each rope (being careful not to tear them) until they are long enough to wrap around the cone.
Wrap each hat with the fruit roll-up rope: the rope should go where the cone meets the cookie so that it looks like the band on a witches hat. Pinch the ends of the roll-up together in the back.
Arrange the hats on a platter to serve immediately, or keep them in a covered container in a cool place out of direct sunlight until it's time to share them. The assembled hats will last about two days.
Notes
Some steps of this recipe can be done in advance to help save time. The cookies can be baked up to two days in advance. The sugar cones can be coated with Candy Melts up to two days ahead as well.
Fill the cones with the candies of your choice: some that I like to use are M&M's, gummy candies like bears or worms, candy corn, mellowcreme pumpkins, and Reese's Pieces.
Semisweet chocolate chips could be used to paint the sugar cones, in place of the Candy Melts, if you prefer. I like using Candy Melts because they melt quickly and smoothly, and they harden very quickly as well. If you use chocolate chips, you will need to allow more time for the chocolate to harden.
For the fruit roll-ups I used the Cherry Orange Wildfire flavor that came in the variety pack of Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-ups — for the orange color. Feel free to use different flavors and/or colors if they're more readily available.
The candy filling is not included in the nutritional info, since the type of candy is up to you!