Creepy Witches' Fingers

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Creepy Witches' Fingers

Creepy Witches' Fingers are a fun and delicious way to liven up your Halloween festivities. They're made with buttery shortbread dough tinted green and fashioned to look like fingers, nails, and all. There are certain to be a hit with young and old goblins.

Prep Time40

Cook Time20

Cooling the dough45

Total Time1 45

Course: Cookies, Halloween

Cuisine: Amercan

Servings: Witches' Fingers

Calories: 79kcal

Author: Chula King

Equipment

Electric hand mixer
2 half sheet pans
Parchment paper

Ingredients

40 whole almonds
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces, 227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (3 ounces, 85) confectioners' sugar
1 Tablespoon (0.5 ounce, 15 ml) vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
3 to 4 drops green gel food color (See Tip 1)
2 cups (10 ounces, 284 grams) all-purpose flour
Red cookie icing (See Tip 2)

Instructions

To blanch the almonds and remove the skins, place them in boiling water for three minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water; pat dry. Press the bottom of the almonds using two fingers to slip the skin off.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
Beat butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and green food color in a medium bowl until well combined, about one minute. (See Tip 3)
Add flour; beat on low just until combined, about one minute. (See Tip 3)
Transfer the dough to a piece of plastic wrap. Form into a disk, cover with the plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Portion the dough into 12-gram pieces. Using your fingers, roll the dough into a 4-inch finger. Press an almond into one end of the finger, with the pointed end pointing out. Use a toothpick to make two sets of three indentations for the knuckles. Place on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze the fingers for 15 minutes.
Bake the witches' fingers in a preheated 325°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven; allow to sit on the baking sheets for five minutes. Carefully transfer the witches' fingers to a wire rack to cool completely.
Carefully remove the almonds from the witches' fingers. Add a small amount of the red cookie icing to the indentation left by the almond. Press the almond back into the icing-filled indentation.
Yield: 40 witches' fingers. (See Tip 4)

Video

Notes

You can use whatever green food color you like. I chose a light green because I wanted the witches' fingers to resemble the color of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. The specific gel food color that I used was Electric Green, which I ordered from Amazon.
I purchased the red cookie icing from Michaels. I chose this because it hardened.
It's best to beat the ingredients until they are well combined. Beating adds air to the dough, which can contribute to its expansion when cooked.
These witches' fingers are softer than traditional shortbread cookies and are somewhat delicate. Store them in an airtight container for up to three days, or freeze for up to three months.

Nutrition