Recipes: Halloween Cookies

 

Tagged:
autumn, cats, confectioners sugar, cookies, food coloring, halloween, skulls, vanilla, witches,

Cookies shaped like skulls, cats, witches and jack-o’-lanterns are just the thing for that most frightful of holidays. After baking the cookies, you can sandwich them together with buttercream frosting and decorate as desired.

Recipe courtesy of Williams-Sonoma.com

 

Foodie Byte

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES: 4 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM: 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons milk, plus more, if needed
1/4 teaspoon salt
Food colorings (optional)

Preparation

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.
To make the cookies, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
In a sifter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sift the flour mixture directly onto the butter mixture. Beat on low speed until well mixed.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball, then flatten the balls into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature before continuing.
Place 1 dough disk between 2 sheets of waxed paper or parchment paper and roll out to 3/16-inch thickness. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Dip Halloween cookie cutters in flour. Cut out an equal number of each shape, pressing an imprint on only half of the cutouts. Using a large metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the prepared pans. Gather up and reroll the scraps, refrigerate until firm and cut out more cookies. Repeat with the remaining dough disks. Refrigerate the cookies for 15 minutes before baking.
Bake the cookies until they are golden on the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the cookies cool completely on the pans.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until light and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, add the confectioners' sugar, the 2 tablespoons milk, the vanilla and salt, and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Tint with food colorings as desired.
For sandwich cookies: Spread 2 teaspoons buttercream on top of the solid cookies. Top with an imprinted cookie and gently press together. Decorate the tops of the sandwich cookies as desired. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Makes about 24 sandwich cookies.

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