Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies

Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies

Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies

Dexter was one of my favorite shows and I bought the final season some months ago. I love the Blood Spatter Cookies at Annie's Eats and thought with Halloween upcoming, no better way to pay homage to my favorite serial killer so I made Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies. The Vanilla Sugar Cookie recipe is from Sweetopia. The cookies have a great vanilla taste and are not too sweet. I did not add baking powder since I did not want the cookies to spread and lose their shape in the oven.

Vanilla Sugar Cookie 
Ingredients
2 cups Unsalted Butter, softened

2 cups Granulated Sugar

2 Extra Large Eggs

3 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

5 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies

Directions
Sift flour and add salt. Combine with spatula. Put aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment on low, 1-2 minutes.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix for a 10-15 seconds.

Add eggs one at a time, mix until incorporated. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5-10 seconds.

Add vanilla extract and mix on low until incorporated, about 15-20 seconds.

Slowly add flour mixture on low to combine. The dough is ready when it begins to clump around paddle attachment.

Cookies dry

Roll dough into ball, cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1-2 hours.

Cut dough into 4 cuts, leaving unused dough covered with plastic wrap in the fridge until ready to  use.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use 2 sheets of parchment paper with dough in between and roll with rolling pin until desired thickness is reached.

Place cut out shapes on cookies sheets lined with parchment paper and put in freezer for 5 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until the edges have slightly browned.

Wait 2-3 minutes before transferring cookies on cooling racks to complete cooling.

Decorate once cookies have cooled.

Close-up view of Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies

 Royal Icing
Ingredients
4 Egg Whites

4 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

6 cups Confectioners Sugar, sifted

Directions
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment.

Slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. Watch the Joy of Baking (link at the end) video for both Flooding Consistency and Piping Consistency Royal Icing. If you prefer a recipe using Meringue Powder, it is also available at this link.

I separated the icing in plastic containers with lids for tinting with Americolor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Super Red and Super White. Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color. Royal Icing hardens fast so keep it covered when not in use.

To make the red, I add 3 drops and combine with a small spatula. Add 1 drop at a time until you reach the red you want. For the white, I added 2 drops to give it a pure white color.

Close-up view of the rest of the Dexter Blood Spatter Cookies

I transferred the icing immediately into Squeeze Bottles using a funnel to prevent it from spilling. Keep the squeeze bottle tips covered. If the Royal Icing hardens due to exposure to air, spray a little bit of water and shake bottle well holding the tip with your finger. Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie.

I did the white borders around each cookie and waited 1/2 hour before flooding the cookie.

I used the remaining white icing by just adding a few squirts of water from a spray bottle and then shaked to combine. This made the Flood Consistency I needed to flood/fill the cookie. Add the water a little at a time until you reach a nice smooth consistency.

Use a paintbrush or cookie stick to reach edges and use tip of toothpick to pop any air bubbles.

I lined a cookie sheet with paper towels and placed the cookies on cooling tray over it.

Cookies cooling 

I transferred the red icing from a squeeze bottle to a medium sized bowl, and with a spray bottle spritzed it with more water to make it really runny.

I used a thin paintbrush and splattered away until I was happy with my mess.

Let dry for 5-6 hours or overnight.

For further information:
Please visit, Annie's Eats for the Blood Spatter Cookies: http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/10/29/blood-spatter-cookies/

Please visit, Sweetopia for the Vanilla Sugar Cookie Recipe: http://sweetopia.net/2009/12/sugar-cookie-recipe/

Please visit, Joy of Baking for the Royal Icing Recipe and Video Tutorial:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys