Witches’ Broomsticks

Heat oven to 350ºF. Beat brown sugar, butter, water and vanilla in a medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt. Shape dough into twenty 1 1/4-inch balls.

Take one of the cookie balls and press it onto the pretzel half (which is the handle of the broomstick). It’s not necessary to wrap it all the way around the pretzel, just flatten the ball onto it. Once you’re happy with your broom shape, use a fork to press the bristle shapes into the cookie dough. You might need to reshape the cookie a little again after using the fork. Put the assembled broomsticks onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake about 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove broomsticks from the cookie sheet. Cool completely on wire rack, about 30 minutes.

Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper. Place brooms on top of the waxed paper. Heat chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler stirring until melted. You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave. If you do this, just heat for 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between each additional heating increment. Remove chocolate from heat.

Spoon melted chocolate over the brooms, leaving about 1 inch at the top of the pretzel handle and bottom halves of cookie bristles uncovered.

Melt the butterscotch chips in the same fashion that you melted the semi-sweet chocolate. Drizzle the brooms with melted butterscotch chips.

Place cookies in fridge to help the chocolate set up, thirty minutes to an hour.