Halloween Cookies

Halloween Cookies

Halloween Cookies

Witch Hat, Cauldron, Witch Silhouette, Witch Broom

I made two batches of cookies for Halloween, vanilla and chocolate. The vanilla sugar cookie recipe is from Sweetopia, and I added 1 tablespoon of milk. This is the best tasting sugar cookie and my go to recipe for cutout cookies. For the chocolate sugar cookie recipe and instructions check out Holiday Sugar Cookies.

Skulls

Haunted House

Tovolo Coffins: Skeleton and Bats

Vanilla Sugar Cookie 
Ingredients
2 cups Unsalted Butter, softened

2 cups Sugar

2 Extra Large Eggs

3 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

1 tablespoon Milk

5 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

Frankenstein and silly looking Dracula

Frankenstein

Silly looking Dracula

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.

Moon

Ghosts

Candy Corn

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

Add milk and 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.

Bats

Ravens

Cats

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.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use two 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 and put in freezer for 5 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Tombstones

Tombstones

Tombstones

Tombstones

Tombstones

Coffins

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 completely.

Witch Silhouette Cookies

Cauldrons

Witch Hats

Witch Brooms

Large Batch Royal Icing

Ingredients
8 Egg Whites

8 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

12 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla Extract

Directions
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, set aside.

In a bowl, add egg whites.

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

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.

Add vanilla extract and mix for 5-10 seconds.

With mixer speed on low, slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

Sprinkles, decorations

Royal Icing, double batch

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 according to the different colors I needed for tinting.

I used AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color.

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color.

I transferred the icing immediately into Squeeze Bottles using a funnel to prevent spilling. If the Royal Icing hardens due to exposure to air, use a spray bottle and 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 outlined the cookies and waited 1/2 hour and then filled them.

For the witch silhouette, I used wax paper and under it placed the silhouette. With the black border royal icing, I made a silhouette and let it dry overnight. I carefully peeled it off and applied a few drops of icing in the center of the cookie and gently placed the silhouette.

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

Let cookies dry overnight.

For further information:
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