Bat and Ghost Cookies

By Annabel Karmel

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Create a spooky atmosphere with these ghost and bat cookies. Collect some twigs from outside, put them in a vase, then hang the cookies from the branches to tempt the little school-age goblins that live at home!

Ingredients

  • Heaping 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 stick butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
  • 1/2 cup soft dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1/3 cup golden syrup (e.g., Lyle's)
  • 1 tablespoon milk

For the icing:

  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons meringue powder
  • Warm water
  • Black food coloring
  • Black and red writing icing

Cooking Instructions

  1. Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, ginger, and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl. Put the butter, sugar, and golden syrup in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until just melted. Let cool for 5 minutes.
  2. Stir the melted mixture into the dry ingredients. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  4. Lightly grease two cookie sheets. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out ghosts, bats, and other Halloween shapes using cookie cutters. Use a drinking straw to make a hole in each one if you would like to hang them up later. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly browned.
  5. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
  6. To make the icing, whisk the confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder together in a bowl, then add warm water, a few drops at a time, to make a thick icing. Divide the icing into two and color one half black. Make two small piping bags from parchment paper and pipe around the edges of the cookie to make an outline. Pipe around the hole if you have made one. Ice the bats with black and the ghosts with white icing. Add a little more warm water to the remaining icing to make it thinner and spread this inside the piped lines.
  7. Let the cookies stand overnight for the icing to set. When the icing has hardened you can draw features using black and red writing icing. Thread some thin ribbon through the holes in the cookies and tie, then hang the cookies from twigs arranged in a vase.
Servings:

18


Chilling Time: 30 minutes
Baking Time: 15 minutes

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This content originally appeared in the Complete Party Planner: Over 120 Delicious Recipes and Party Ideas for Every Occasion by Annabel Karmel (Atria Books, 2006) and the Annabel Karmel Family Cookbook (Dennis Publishing, Winter & Christmas 2008 edition).

To learn more about bestselling cookbook author Annabel Karmel, click here.

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