Monstrously Good HALLOWEEN Cookies
Halloween is just around the corner, and what better occasion to prepare some fantastic and spooky cookies to give to the kids.
Halloween cookies are delicious shortcrust pastries in monstrous shapes that you can easily create at home using cookie cutters available in stores (I used Decora) and then decorate with sprinkles, fondant, and much more to simulate cobwebs, spiders, skulls, pumpkins, or whatever your imagination suggests.
The dough for the Halloween cookies is very simple, and once ready and rolled out, you can cut it with the molds and put it in the oven. Once ready, unleash your creativity!
They are so easy that you can get your kids to help, and even if they don’t turn out perfect, no worries, after all, the important thing is to have fun and be together, and the taste will be delicious in any case.
Like any traditional recipe, there are many versions of shortcrust cookies. The one we will prepare today, after various tests and attempts, is, in my opinion, the perfect recipe for Halloween cookies for speed, simplicity, and of course, taste.
If you don’t want to buy dedicated cookie cutters, it’s not a problem. You can carve circles with a straw or a pen cap to form round eyes; or, if you want to create monstrous pumpkins, carve triangles and make the mouth with a small knife.
These Halloween cookies are perfect for gifting or serving as a snack or for the buffet on October 31st or even for “Trick or Treat” if someone knocks on your door.
TIPS: to create these Halloween cookies I purchased the following products:
– Royal Icing to cover and decorate the cookies
– Coloring Gel to color the royal icing
– Sugar Decorations for Halloween for eyes, little spiders, etc.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 20 cookies
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Halloween
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 3/4 tbsp milk
Tools
- Cookie Cutter pumpkin and skull
- Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Tray
Steps
Put the softened butter with the sugar in a bowl and mix with a whisk until fluffy, light, and frothy. Add the milk, mix again, then gradually start incorporating the flour while continuing to mix. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it until you get a soft dough ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about 1 hour.
Take the dough, knead it slightly to make it soft again, then roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Use the Halloween cookie cutters to cut out various shapes: pumpkin, skull, cobweb, hat, etc…
Place the cookies on a baking tray and bake in a preheated static oven at 347°F for about 10/12 minutes. The shortcrust should be cooked and slightly golden. Once ready, remove them from the oven and let them cool completely.
Prepare the Royal Icing following the instructions on the package and then color it according to the use you need with the appropriate Colored Gels. Then apply the Halloween sugar decorations to bring your monstrous but delicious Halloween cookies to life.
Before wrapping them to give away or consume, wait for the decoration to dry completely.
STORAGE
Store them in a cookie tin, preferably in a dry place, and they will last up to 2 weeks.
TIPS FOR MAKING COOKIES WITHOUT MOLDS
PUMPKIN-SHAPED COOKIES
Cut many circles with a glass about 2 3/4 inches in diameter and create eyes in half of the circles using a straw. To draw the classic jagged mouth, once the cookies are baked and perfectly cooled, you can draw it using melted dark chocolate. Put it in a piping bag with a 2 mm hole and draw the mouth.
WITCH FINGER COOKIES
Once the shortcrust is ready, make many serpentine shapes the size of a finger.
Place an almond on each as if it were a nail and use a knife to draw parallel lines in the center to create the knuckles. For an even more monstrous touch, you can add fake blood made of red fruit jam.
