Severed Fingers Halloween Cookies

Queenkungfu's Note:

This recipe is from Martha Stewart, so not only do they look cool but they also have fantastic flavor--not too dry or hard. Even though they are soft inside, they aren't too, too fragile.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 12 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 15

Yield: 30.0 cookies

• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 30 blanched almonds
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup butter , at room temperature
• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 2⁄3; cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats) or parchment paper, and set aside.
2. Place food coloring in a shallow bowl. crack each whole almond into halves. and toss them into the bowl with the food coloring and stir them until the color is evenly distributed. leave them in the bowl and stir them every so often until the color is as dark as you like.
3. Separate 1 egg. Set aside the white. In a small bowl, whisk together yolk, remaining egg, and vanilla. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough in half. Work with one piece at a time, keeping remaining dough covered with plastic wrap and chilled. Divide the first half into fifteen pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes, 3 to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.
6. When all fingers are formed, brush lightly with egg white. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach.
7. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool completely.
8. note: To make the knuckles more creepy just shape them big and uneven. To keep them from puffing out too much roll the fingers extra skinny (skinnier than you want them to look if that makes sense). I also try to get them out of the oven before they brown. I sometimes add a bit of almond extract to dough.

Reviews

[Aaliyah's&Aaron's mum]

I made these for the kiddies' Halloween party last week (early) and it was a BIG hit, more with the adults than the kids themselves! The kids found them a bit creepy, some of them even refused to try it... more for us adults! Once chilled, the dough was very easy to work with, didn't even need extra flour. I worked with small portions at a time, chilling the rest in the fridge and I doubled the recipe with no problem. I added in a bit more vanilla than stated and a few drops of almond extract as well. I still need to practice to shape the fingers properly, because even though I did roll them out quite thin, they did spread out while baking. Mine turned out more like monster's thumb than witchypoo's fingers, but they tasted fab! Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. This one is definitely a keeper!

[debfox4420]

I'm not a baker, but I had to try these for our Halloween party! They turned out sooooo cool, and were not as difficult as I thought. I did add both 1/4 tsp vanilla AND 1/4 tsp almond extract to the batter. I couldn't find blanched almonds, but regular almonds worked just fine in the food coloring. I posted a picture! Definitely work with small batches of dough at a time and keep the rest in the fridge until you are ready. That seems to help!

[969192]

These were super easy to do - As soon as the dough was made, I used my smalles scooper and was able to scoop 33 balls. Covered these and put in fridge for an hour or so. It was then the simplest thing ever to roll and shape them right on the silpat - didn't use any flour at all! I used whole almonds, because if there is an easy way to split those guys in half I don't know what it is! But the whole ones were perfect. Used a green tinted egg wash and they baked perfectly in 12 minutes. I was worried about the nails falling off but there was no fear of that - they were firmly attached. Great recipe!