Vampire Bites Cookies

Vampire Bites Cookies

Vampire Bites Cookies

I have been obsessed with vampires since I was a teenager. It all started when I first read Bram Stoker's Dracula, followed by research I did on Vlad Tepes the Impaler back when I owned and published an underground fanzine called, Delirium. I remember the first time I saw Nosferatu and was horrified, but at the same time intrigued by this frail looking but powerful being. The ultimate vampires for me was falling in bloodlust over the Vampire Lestat and Armand after reading Anne Rice's books. This is my favorite vampire series and I have read it multiples times over the years.

These Vampire Bites Cookies are a tribute to vampires and fitting for Halloween/Samhain. I made a batch of Sweetopia's Vanilla Sugar Cookie recipe and included the full recipe below. I used Strawberry Jam as the filling and used a toothpick to make the bites. The cookies are tender, not too sweet, and the strawberry jam just adds the right amount of sweetness and added flavor. This is a perfect cookie to indulge in with coffee or tea.

Vanilla Sugar Cookie 
Ingredients
2 cups Unsalted Butter, softened

2 cups Sugar

2 Extra Large Eggs

3 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

5 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

Close up of Vampire Bites 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 20-25 seconds.

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

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 until ready to  use.

Use a medium size round cutter to make the shapes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll dough in between two sheets of parchment paper

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

Place onto cookies sheets lined with parchment paper. Spoon 1 teaspoon of jam in the center of the cookies and place top dough and seal the edges together. Do not add too much of the jam or it will seep through the edges.

Take a toothpick and make two holes so it looks like a vampire bite. Repeat for each cookie.

Place cookies in the freezer for 5 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

The vampire holes hold their shape as they bake.

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

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

When the cookies have cooled, take a toothpick and dip it in the jam and pull out one of the vampire bite holes to make it look like blood trickling down the cookie.

For further information:
Please visit, Baking Bites for the Vampire Cookie Recipe: http://bakingbites.com/2008/10/vampire-cookies/

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

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys