I read this morning in the news that the White House held a pre-Halloween party that included cookies and dried fruit today. It inspired me to make a batch of dried fruit cookies for our own festivities. I mixed raisins, dried cherries, dried kiwis, dried apricots, honey and pecans into a basic sugar cookie dough. I made a fair number that I kept in an airtight tin so the kids can enjoy them all the way through to Monday evening.
The cookies are decorated with very cute renditions of Dracula and a spooky witch. The designs are in the form of peel-&-press edible frosting stickers, which were very convenient, given my utter lack of drawing skills. If you’d like to get similar designs, you can find them at Ticings®. They come in thin sheets of edible icing using food-grade inks that easy apply to almost any soft-frosted dessert.
1. Info for Halloween Cookies: Dried Fruit Cookie Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 36
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Halloween Cookies: Dried Fruit Cookie Recipe
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1-¼ cups granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons wildflower honey (or any sweetener)
- 2-¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup pomegranate juice
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 tablespoon dried kiwis, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons dried cherries, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons combined dried cranberries and raisins
- 1 tablespoon dried apricots, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons chopped pecans
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon Ticings dark chocolate luster shimmer sprinkles (see tips), as needed
- 1 tablespoon Ticings rose petal sugar (see tips), as needed
3. Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Making dried fruit cookie dough: In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Sift all the dry ingredients.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the egg with ½ cup granulated sugar for about 5-6 minutes. The texture of the egg will be thicker. Add vanilla extract (if used).
- Cream the butter with the remaining granulated sugar (whisk using a stand mixer to get as much air as possible in the butter). Add sour cream, olive oil, egg mixture, honey and 1-½ tablespoons pomegranate juice. Stir until well combined, then add the dry ingredients. Mix well. Finish with the dried fruits and nuts. Mix until well combined.
- Place a silicone mat or a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Using a cookie scoop, form dough balls (about 2-½ tablespoons each). Place the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Slightly flatten the cookie dough balls to create fairly large cookies. Make sure to space the cookies about 2 inches apart so they don’t touch each other, as they will expand as they bake.
- Bake for about 5 minutes at 375°F, then lower the heat to 350°F and bake for another 8 minutes (up to 10 minutes depending on how you like the consistency of the cookie). Rotate them half-way through so they cook evenly.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring them onto the cooling rack. Also make sure to layer a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet (for easy clean-up of the cookie icing).
- In one small bowl, dissolve the remaining pomegranate juice in 1 cup of powdered sugar. Stir well.
- Repeat the same procedure in another bowl with the remaining powdered sugar and 2-½ tablespoons of water.
- Place the pink icing in a small bag and pipe a circle around the edge of the cookie. Fill the circle with more icing. Even out the icing using a small spatula. Peel and press the Dracula edible sticker. and sprinkle rose petal sugar around the sticker.
- Repeat the same procedure with the white icing and the witch sticker and chocolate shimmer sprinkles.
- Let the icing harden completely for at least 2 hours.
- Bon appétit!
