Owl Cookies

Cecily Parsley's Note:

These are cute for Hallowe'en and especially appropriate for Brownies. It's a basic sugar cookie with a bit of a savoury, salty crunch. .

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 70 cookies

• 1 ¼ cups candy coated milk chocolate pieces
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 (24 ounce) box of dry sugar cookie mix
• 1 cup cashews , salted
• Skor English toffee bit , and crushed cornflakes*

Directions:

1. Combine 3/4 cup of the candies with the milk in a small saucepan. Set the remainder of candies aside. Melt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.
2. Prepare cookie mix according to package directions. Stir melted chocolate into half of the dough, setting the other half of dough aside.
3. Form the chocolate half of the dough into two 12" long rolls, about 1" in diameter. Wrap each in waxed apper. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.
4. Divide the plain half of the dough in half. On a well-floured surface, roll each plain half out into a 12" X 6" rectangle. Place a chocolate roll on the long edge. Roll up, pressing dough tightly together, so that the plain dough encases the chocolate dough roll.
5. Repeat this process once again with the remaining dough. Wrap each roll in waxed paper. Chill another 2 hours, or until firm.
6. Preheat oven to 325°F Cut each roll into 1/4" slices. Place 2 slices so that they are touching side by side, with a slight overlap (not stacked one atop the other) on a greased baking sheet. In the center of each chocolate circle, place one of the remaining candies for the eye. Where the slices touch, place a cashew to form the beak. Sprinke a few pinches of the Skor-flake mixture evenly over the surface of each cookie.
7. Bake until the plain cookie part looks lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 2-3 minutes. Remove and cool on wire racks.
8. *I recommend not using pre-packaged cornflake crumbs and Skor bits, Instead, get a couple of Skor bars and the regular cornflakes cereal, then and lightly crush them in a paper bag using a meat mallet or a rolling pin. You don't want them powdered into oblivion, the effect you are going for is more of a "flake" texture for creating the effect of feathers. Then mix the two together and set aside in a small bowl.