Halloween Cookie Recipes From Scratch

HALLOWEEN PARTY CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and blended. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Shape dough into 2 portions. Shape each into a disk; wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-1/2-in. Halloween-shaped cookie cutters. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., In a large bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, shortening and enough water to reach spreading consistency. Tint frosting and decorate as desired. Let stand until set.

HALLOWEEN GHOST COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a second bowl. Add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Dust a work surface with flour and roll out dough into a thin circle. Cut out tulip shapes; if your tulip cookie cutter has a stem, cut the stem off with a knife, so you have a stemless tulip shape. Arrange cut-out cookies on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from baking sheets carefully and transfer to wire racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• Stir 1 cup confectioners' sugar and milk together in a small bowl until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more corn syrup if icing is too thick.
• Spoon icing into a piping bag with a small plain tip. Pipe icing around the edge of each cookie to create a border. Fill in the middle completely with icing. Stick 2 chocolate chip cookies into the wet icing for the eyes. Let cookies stand until icing dries, about 1 hour.

EASY HALLOWEEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugars together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat again to combine. Stir in the flour and baking powder with a wooden spoon until you have a stiff dough, then fold in the chocolate chips.
• Divide the dough into 20 pieces and roll into balls. Arrange on the prepared baking sheets, well spaced out so there's space for spreading (you may need to bake them in batches). Press the tops of the cookies down very slightly using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass. Bake the cookies for 10-12 mins until golden around the edges, then leave to cool on the baking sheets for 10 mins. Transfer to wire racks and leave to cool completely.
• To make the spider cookies, lay 10 of the cooled cookies out in front of you. Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag and the royal icing into another, then snip off the ends using scissors. Pipe a dot of royal icing onto the back of two Maltesers, and arrange these onto one of the cookies to create the head and body of the spider. Repeat with the remaining nine cookies and the rest of the Maltesers. Pipe eight spider legs around the bodies of the spiders using the chocolate. Pipe two small dots of royal icing onto the heads to create eyes, then pipe very small dots of chocolate over the eyes to create pupils. If you like, decorate the bodies with the royal icing.
• To make the bat cookies, lay the remaining 10 cookies out in front of you. Separate the cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, and carefully scrape the cream filling off the chocolate cookie pieces. Cut the chocolate cookie pieces into semicircles using a small serrated knife. Stick a caramel-filled chocolate onto the middle of each cooled cookie using the royal icing, then use a little more to stick a chocolate cookie semicircle on either side of the chocolates to make the bat wings. Pipe eyes onto the chocolates using the royal icing and melted chocolate.