Halloween Food Creations

I hosted our Church's Halloween Cooking Club last week. We made many ghoulish treats, but I thought I'd share my two that are new this year (I also made last year's Eyeball Deviled Eggs again).

Halloween Finger Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
red decorating gel
sliced almonds

In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract.

Separately combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.

If dough is too soft for shaping, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Work with one piece of dough at a time; roll dough into 1-inch balls. Shape balls into 3-inch by 1/2-inch fingers. Use the tip of a butter knife to make an indentation on one end of each finger for the fingernail. With a knife, make two slashes just above the nail indentation, and then three more slashes in the middle of each finger for the knuckles.

Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for a few minutes.

Squeeze a small amount of red gel on each nail bed, and press a sliced almond over the gel for the nail, allowing the gel to ooze around the nail.

Note: You can add a touch of green paste food coloring to the dough while mixing for a monstery finger. Don't use liquid food coloring as that will affect the consistency of the dough, and could also make it more sticky.

Yield: 2 cookie sheets full of fingers, approximately 50-60 cookies



Oreo Spiders
As simple as they look: Oreo cookies with licorice legs, and Reese's Pieces eyes (you can stick the eyes on with frosting, peanut butter, or whatever- I used red decorating gel since I had it leftover from the fingers). I couldn't find these thin pull-apart vines in black, so my spiders' legs are red.