Halloween Cookies with Royal Icing

Halloween Cookies with Royal Icing

     Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I know some people don't consider it to be a holiday, but I do. I love the decorations, the costumes, and the great holiday treats. I have some fond memories of Halloween from childhood into adulthood.

     I enjoy going to Goodwill or Savers looking for that perfect costume. The rummaging through the clothing racks looking for that just right item to complete a costume what fun! Some people think yuck! But I think this is fun. Easily amused I guess. I'm still debating if I want to dress up to hand out candy this year. I might just go with a simple costume for that, but if I had someplace to go this year I might really do it up.

     Well since it was the Education Minnesota Conference and I did not have to work. My daughter asked if we could make Halloween cut out cookies. Now one might think that my daughter is school age, but she is actually in college. Obviously she still likes to do the holiday stuff too. So it was decided that on Friday we would make cookies together.

     On Thursday I went to Michaels and they just so happen to have all kinds of Halloween cookie and cupcake decorating supplies on clearance. Much to my surprise I found a kit by Wilton with 7 Halloween cookie cutters in it. It was perfect for what we wanted to do so of course I had to pick it up.

     The next step was finding a cookie recipe where the cookies were soft. No crunchy cookies in this house. I almost made the lofthouse cookies but then I thought I'd check out the Wilton site for their cookie recipe. I also needed a royal icing recipe too and I found one on this site as well. I did change the icing a bit just to make it a little more spreadable.

     I just want to warn you that it did take us about three hours to make these cookies from start to finish. That includes cleaning up the kitchen too. But do not fear these cookies are well worth the time and effort. Besides I think they turned out pretty cool.

     So if you want to do something fun for Halloween give these cookies a try. You will not regret the time and effort that you put into it, and besides everyone will be in awe over your awesome cookies.
    
Cookie Dough 
1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t no-color almond extract
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix flour, baking powder and salt, add 1 cup at a time to butter mixture, mixing after each addition.
Do not chill the dough.
Divide dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. (I didn't do this and I had no problem cutting them with my cookie cutters).
Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet on top rack for 6-7 minutes. Let cool slightly on pan before transferring to a cooling rack.
Let cookies cool completely before icing them.

Easy Royal Icing
1 C powdered sugar
3 t milk
3t corn syrup
coloring paste, various colors

Mix together until smooth. Add coloring and mix well. Recipe adapted slightly from Wilton.com
I transferred the icing to squeeze bottles to decorate the cookies. It worked rather well. I also made about 3 different batches to color. One white, one gray and one black. I cheated with the orange and just used some orange frosting from a can. I just heated it a little in the microwave and then spread it on the pumpkins.

Recipes from Wilton.com