Spooky Halloween Cookies!

Ingredients:

Cookies

225g butter, softened

225g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

360g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

Icing

500g icing sugar

60ml water (may not need all)

Gel food colouring of your choice

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees celsius (350F) and line several baking trays with baking parchment.

Cream together to caster sugar and butter until pale and smooth. An electric whisk would be much easier but it seems I love to make things difficult for myself :)

Crack the egg into the bowl, or if you're less confident, into a side bowl in case of any shell falling in. Next, pour in the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt and gradually add to the wet ingredients until it begins to come together.

Lightly wet your hands and make a ball of the dough.

Split the dough into thirds and cover 2 parts in clingfilm while you roll out the other on a slightly floured surface until about the thickness of a pencil. I pretty much eyeballed it but its better for it to be a little too thick than thin because they'll be stronger when you transfer to a baking tray.

Use your chosen cookie cutter/s (mine are from Waitrose) and roll out any excess again until there's not enough to make another.

Do the same with the other 2 thirds.

Gently place the shapes on your pre-lined baking trays, evenly spaced with a little room for growth.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes depending on your oven. The lighter the colour they have, the softer they'll be, with a golden edge they'll be more sturdy.

For the icing, bit by bit add the water to the icing sugar stopping when pourable but not runny! You may have water left over but you need the icing to be able to hold its shape.

Separate and add the colouring to the brightness you like.

Placing a piping bag in a large glass for balance, pour in the icing. You can use a nozzle if you prefer but i just cut a VERY small hole at the end which worked perfectly.

Twist the end and begin outlining your cookies (once cool).

By the time you've outlined all the cookies, the first ones should be dry and ready to fill in. Squeeze a good amount on and using a tooth pick or fork, guide the icing over the surface to the edges. 

Lastly, add any details e.g faces and leaves. I think some edible googly eyes would work better but I couldn't find any in the shops :(

Et voila! You have lots of spooky sugar cookies fit for a Halloween party or just a well deserved treat :)

These are honestly the best biscuits/cookies I've ever made and I ate way too many way too quickly haha!

Highly recommend you try these out, and if you do, send me a pic of the result!

Coco ♡