Halloween Cookies

Makes about 36 cookies.

Cookies Tasty butter cookies cut into pumpkins and other halloween shapes make festive treats for trick-or-treaters or ghoulish ornaments for a Halloween cookie tree.

1-3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups butter at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg

Frosting
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons milk,
plus more as needed
food coloring as desired

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt together onto a piece of wax paper In a medium bowl, cream the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then add the flour mixture in thirds, each time stirring until the dough is smooth.

On a lightly floured board, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut into desired cookie shapes and put them on an ungreased baking sheet. If you are making cookies to hang on a cookie tree, use an ice pick to make a 1/4-inch diameter hole in each one. Gather up the scraps of dough and roll them out again until all the dough is used.

Bake just until lightly browned on the bottom and pale golden on top, 6 to 8 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks.

To make the frosting, put the confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and stir in milk until a stiff but spreadable paste forms, Though it may seem overly stiff, too much milk will make an unworkable frosting. If more milk is necessary, add only 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Divide the frosting among separate bowls and color as desired. To make an almost black frosting, use equal amounts of red and green food coloring. Frost either warm or cooled cookies. If the cookies are warm, the frosting will spread more easily.

Buy the Book!

from:
Holiday Pumpkins
A Collection of Inspired Recipes, Gifts, and Decorations
by Jennifer Barry and Georgeanne Brennan
Ten Speed Press
112 pages, Full-color photographs
Price: $14.95 (CAN $23.95)
ISBN: 1-58008-535-0
Recipe reprinted by permission.