Halloween Spice Cookies Recipes

HALLOWEEN SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger into a large bowl; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add molasses and vanilla; beat to combine, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a flat disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm but still pliable, at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of dough to a 1/4-inch-thick round. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. Repeat with remaining disk. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cookies are beginning to crack on the surface and firm to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.
• Divide icing evenly among three bowls and tint each with a different food coloring, starting with just a drop, mixing well, and adding more, drop by drop, to reach desired shade. Transfer to piping bags fitted with very small round tips (such as Ateco #1.) Pipe a thin line of icing around outer edge of each cookie. Pipe eyes, noses, and mouths in center of each cookie to create faces. Let stand 15 minutes. Pipe a generous amount of icing into empty spaces around eyes, noses, and mouths. Use a toothpick or a small food-safe paintbrush to push icing around and fill nooks and crannies. Gently tap cookies on a flat surface a few times to even out icing and remove air bubbles. Let stand until completely set, at least 4 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap, and slice each log into 3/8-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies crack slightly on the surface, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• When completely cool, decorate with royal icing mixed with desired food coloring.

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.