Halloween Cookies
Chocolate cut-out cookie dough, perfect for holidays and decorating.
- Prep time
- 25 min
- Cook time
- 6 min
- Yield
- 30 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 c white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
- 1/3 c baking cocoa
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- flour or cocoa for dusting work surface*
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, or a splash of fresh lemon juice
- 3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
- red, yellow, and green food dyes
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla; mix to combine.
- 2
Pour in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined and the dough clumps together, pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
- 3
Lightly dust your work surface with flour or cocoa. Turn your dough out onto the surface and sprinkle a little more flour or cocoa on top of the dough. Using a rolling pin to flatten out your dough with long, gentle strokes (only rolling in one direction), until the dough is 1/8" (3 cm) thin. Use more cocoa or flour as needed, making sure to turn the dough every now and then to keep it from sticking.
- 4
Use a 2 inch pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out pumpkin shapes. Place the cut-out cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. You can fit 16 cookies on a sheet at a time, spacing the cookies out from each other. Refrigerate the cookies for 15 minutes.
- 5
Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, making sure to rotate the cookie sheet halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- 6
Whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar or lemon juice just until the egg whites are frothy and have lost some of that yellowish appearance. Then add the powdered sugar in, one cup at a time, whisking after each addition. Once the icing is white and thick, stop mixing.
- 7
Separate 2 tablespoons of the icing, and dye those 2 tablespoons green for the stems. Dye the rest of the icing orange using the red and yellow dyes (usually 1 drop red, 5 drops yellow). Apply using a food-grade paint brush.