No-Bake Chocolate Spiders with a Gooey Raspberry Jam Centre

Line a tray that fits in your freezer with parchment paper.
Blend the dates and almond butter in a food processor until they form a paste.
Add the cocoa, vanilla, salt and 1 tsp water. Blend for about 2 minutes, until the mixture comes together into a ball. Add a little more water if it struggles.
Note: How much water you need depends on how squidgy your dates are and how spreadable your nut butter is.

Take 1 heaped tsp of the date mixture and roll it into a ball. Press your little finger or the end of a teaspoon into it to make a small 'cup'.
Fill the 'cup' with about ½ tsp of jam.
Flatten a small piece of the date mixture into a flat disc and place it over the jam-filled ‘cup’ to seal it. Gently roll the whole thing between your palms into a smooth round or oval, then place it on the lined tray.
Repeat with the rest of the mixture, which should make around 24 balls in total (it doesn't need to be exact). Then freeze the balls for 30 minutes.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a gentle simmer. Set a heatproof bowl on top, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
Melt the dark chocolate in the bowl, stirring occasionally. Stir in the coconut oil until it melts, then lift the bowl off the saucepan and set aside.
Rest one of the chilled jam-filled balls on top of a fork and dip it into the chocolate. Lift it out and let the excess chocolate drip off. Place it on a cooling rack set over a tray to catch any chocolate drips.
Chill the chocolate-coated balls for 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.
Note: Keep the leftover melted dark chocolate somewhere warm so it does not set - you’ll need this.

Once the chocolate-coated balls have set, spoon the leftover melted dark chocolate into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle.
On a parchment-lined tray, pipe 24 small circles, 1 per spider, each with 8 legs (4 on each side).
Place a chocolate-coated ball gently onto each circle of melted chocolate while the chocolate is still wet, so they fuse as they set. Chill these while you melt the white chocolate for the eyes.
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over the saucepan of simmering water.
Let the melted white chocolate cool for about 10 minutes, until it’s still melted but cool to the touch, then spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle.
Pipe two white chocolate eyes onto each spider.
To add the pupils, use a toothpick or the piping bag to dot a little dark chocolate onto the centre of the white chocolate eyes.
Note: If the chocolate is too runny to pipe, give it another 10 minutes or so to cool at room temperature - it thickens as it cools, which makes piping a little easier.
Chill the spiders until fully set, then carefully peel the spiders off the parchment. Store them carefully in the fridge in a single layer.

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