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Halloween is just around the corner and we know that it’s the holiday to eat lots of sweets. If you’re a lover of cookies, Celebrations’ Amy Berman has a special Halloween treat recipe for you.
This Halloween, make some delicious Halloween Shortbread Cookies that your children, friends, and guests will love!
Happy Baking!
Recipes courtesy of Amy Berman, Executive Pastry Chef & Co-Owner of Vanilla Bake Shop.
Shortbread recipe:
Ingredients
* 2 ¾ c. all purpose flour
* ¼ c. cornstarch
* ½ tsp. baking powder
* 1 ½ c. softened unsalted butter
* ¾ c. powdered sugar
* 2 tsp. vanilla extract
* tubes of icing
Steps
- In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter with powdered sugar on medium speed until combines. Add the vanilla extract.
- Sift together the flour, cornstarch and baking powder and slowly add to butter sugar mixture on low speed in thirds, until the mixture comes together in a ball.Note: Do not over mix. Dough will become tough.
- Chill the dough covered with plastic for 30 min.
- Dust a smooth surface lightly with flour, and roll your shortbread dough out with a rolling pin until it’s about ¼” thick.
- Using your favorite Halloween cookie cutters, cut out your desired shapes and place on parchment covered cookie sheet pans.
- Chill cookies for 10 min before baking, to avoid spreading.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- When cookies have cooled, decorate with colored icings.
Halloween cookies: royal icing
Use food coloring to animate the icing on your shortbread cookies.
Ingredients
* 1 c. pasteurized egg whites
* 5 c. sifted powdered sugar
* 1 tsp. lemon juice
Steps
- In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Slowly add the sifted powder sugar to the egg whites on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Add lemon juice.Tip: For thicker royal icing, add more powdered sugar. It should be able to hold its shape when piped, similar in consistency to thick toothpaste.
- Beat on medium-high speed for 5-8 minutes until mixture thickens and becomes stiff. Scrape down the bowl, and cover with plastic to avoid a skin from forming when not being used.
- Add food coloring to your royal icing, and have your colors ready to go before you start decorating.
- Keep unused royal icing in refrigerator for up to 5 days covered in an airtight container. Tip: Bring to room temperature before using again.
Decorating halloween cookies:
What you’ll need:
* Thick and thin royal icing in black, white, orange, green, yellow
* 5 12″ pastry bags
* 5 #3 piping tips
* Toothpicks
* Undecorated baked cookies
Decorating step-by-step
- Pipe a line of thick royal icing around the edge of your cookie with a pastry bag fitted with #3 piping tip. This will act as the barrier to keep the thinner icing within the lines, and avoid overflow. You do not want any gaps.
- Allow to dry for a couple minutes.
- You are going to fill this space in with thinner royal icing, which is called “Flooding.” Flooding is a technique used to frost cookies to create a smooth glossy finish.
- Getting the right consistency is key. To make the royal icing thicker, add more sifted powder sugar. To make it thinner add drops of water or lemon juice a little at a time to get the desired thickness. A little goes a long way, so measure carefully.Tip: For the perfect consistency of thin royal icing, test it by drawing a toothpick through it. The icing should take about 5 seconds to come back together. Once your barrier is piped, and dry, you can fill it in with the thinner royal icing. You can use a toothpick or the end of your tip to fill out the entire surface of the cookie.
- Keep the color the same as the color you want the cookie to be. For instance, if it’s a spooky Halloween bat, use thick black royal icing for the barrier, and thinner black royal icing as the filler.
- Allow your cookies to dry before adding finishing touches such as eyes, mouth, or “Happy Halloween.”
- Allow your cookies to dry for several hours before packaging up.
- Remember to be creative and have fun!
Looking for more Halloween treats? Visit Celebrations.com for all the recipes you need!
