Spiders

 Our street is pretty quiet.  On Halloween we only get a handful of trick or treaters if we're lucky.  It's usually a pretty dull evening around here.  I need to indulge in a few extra Halloween themed activities and treats to get the most out of the holiday.  These sweet, salty, crunchy snacks are totally addictive.  They are very simple to make and they always help fill my Halloween void.

Spiders
Origin: Unknown

Notes:  I like to cover my peanuts and noodles with chocolate separately so that I can better control the shape of the spiders...they taste equally delicious and still look pretty spider-like when you mix them together in one bowl. 

Ingredients:

2 cups good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 cups of fried chow mein noodles
1 cup roasted salted peanuts

Lightly grease or spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil.

Set a large glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Melt the chocolate chips in the glass bowl stirring with a spatula until smooth and melted.  Remove from heat.

Stir melted chocolate, peanuts and chow mein noodles together, coating everything evenly with chocolate.  Alternatively,  place peanuts in a bowl and toss with about 1/4 cup of melted chocolate.  Toss the chow mein noodles with the remaining chocolate.

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto prepared baking sheet.  If the noodles and peanuts are kept separate, drop spoonfuls of noodles onto baking sheet first and then top with peanuts.   You can manipulate the shape of the spiders a bit after you place them on the baking sheet.  I used tongs for this task but two forks or spoons would work well.  Let the spiders set, the chocolate will solidify after a couple of hours or you can speed it up by placing the baking sheet in the fridge.

Makes approximately 24 Spiders.