As usual, I prepared an enormous batch of sugar cookie dough in anticipation of Halloween. Making cookies in different shapes and sizes is a perfect way to celebrate the holiday. The recipe is ultra-simple, and all you need is quick and easy sugar cookie dough flavored with a bit of vanilla and a good, pointy paring knife.
These are simple pumpkin-shaped cookies. As soon as the girls got back from school, they designed their own decorations. My baby daughter and I preferred the ones without any additional icing or sprinkles but we still created facial features inside the cookies.
1. Info for Jack O’Lantern Halloween Cookies
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 26
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Jack O’Lantern Halloween Cookies
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
3. Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the egg with 1 cup of sugar until it becomes pale yellow foam; the texture of the egg will be thicker. Add the vanilla extract.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
- Cream the butter with ½ cup of sugar (whisk using a stand-mixer to get as much air as possible into the butter). Add the egg mixture and the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the brown sugar. Mix well.
- Shape the cookies into the design of your choice; we stuck with jack-o’-lanterns. Using a paring knife, form the eyes, nose and mouth. Repeat until all the cookies are shaped.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet previously lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Make sure they are spaced apart so they don’t touch each other when they expand while baking.
- Bake for 20 minutes max, depending on how soft you prefer them. Remove from the oven. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.
- You could cover them with a simple icing (recipe follows) and add sprinkles.
- Bon appétit!
4. Tips and advices:
- FYI: 1 cup of butter = 16 tablespoons = 2 sticks of butter.
- To guarantee quality baked goods, use the best quality butter you can find.
- A little salt brings out the flavor of the dessert and enhances its sweetness.
- Reminder on how to make icing: In a bowl, dissolve ½ cup water in 14 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Drizzle each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of cookie icing and sprinkle with orange-colored decoration sugar. Let the icing harden completely for at least 2 hours.
