Spooky Witches' Fingers

Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 20 min
Servings: 60
Yield: 60 servings

Description

This spooky witches' fingers recipe uses a homemade cookie dough decorated with red jam and almonds for bloody fingernails for a tasty Halloween treat.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole almonds
1 (3/4-ounce) tube red decorating food gel, or as needed

Directions

1 Beat butter, confectioners' sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.
2 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
3 Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon of dough at a time onto a piece of waxed paper; keep remaining dough in the refrigerator. Roll dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie using the waxed paper. Press 1 almond into one end of cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and near the center to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into dough with a sharp knife at the same points to give a more finger-like appearance. Repeat with remaining dough. Arrange shaped cookies on the prepared baking sheets.
4 Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
5 Remove almonds from ends of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into cavities. Replace almond to cause jam to ooze out around tips of cookies.