Halloween Sugar Cookies

Where does the time go?  I am not quite sure.  I do know that Halloween is just about two weeks away.  The houses in our neighborhood have begun having the spooky spirit appear in their front yards.  Rather fun to drive around at night and see the scary displays and take in the festive holiday spirit.

Since the Halloween bug has caught up with me, I thought I would whip up some festive cookies and share them at work with my colleagues along with some for my darling hubby.  While pursuing through Pinterest a few weeks ago, I came across this recipe and it was titled “The Best Cookie Known to Man”.  Okay you captured my attention, especially since a great sugar cookie in my opinion is hard to come by.  I prefer the crunchy but soft and full of flavor varietals.  These certainly peaked my interest. Let me just say, they exceeded my expectations.

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Okay, after reviewing the recipe twice, I kept looking for it to say – add vanilla.  No such instruction appeared.  This is when I knew I needed to alter the recipe.  I took out one tablespoon of water and substituted with vanilla.  Also, I did not have cream of tarter and decided to omit.  Realized it was not needed - perhaps I will try at another date by adding the cream of tarter, but will always add the vanilla. Small changes, but the end result was simply MAGNIFICENT.  No I mean BRILLIANT.  These cookies are a life changing sugar cookie – trust me.

I skipped the frosting recipe that it suggested and went for the traditional Royal Icing from Wilton but split the recipe in half.  My neighbor had given me edible markers to write on cookies or frosting and knew this would be the perfect instrument to create these adorable Halloween cookies.  You can simply change the color of the icing or the designs to make these cookies for any holiday occasion. Let your creative juices begin flowing.

Swig Sugar Cookies

Makes 44 cookies

1 Cup Butter (room temperature)

¾ Cup Vegetable Oil

1 ¼ Cup Sugar

¾ Cup Powdered Sugar

1 T. Water

2 Eggs

½ teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

1 T. Vanilla Extract

5 ½ Cup All purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Use a stand mixer. Cream together the butter, sugar and eggs until smooth and fluffy.  Next add the water, vanilla and eggs and beat until combined.  Slowly add the vegetable oil and beat on low until combined.  Add the salt and baking soda and mix; then slowly add the powdered sugar until combined.  Add a cup of flour at a time and incorporate then add the next cup until all incorporated.

Use a small ice cream scoop to form golf ball size cookies.  Lay 9 onto a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Next place an additional 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a bowl.  Use a small glass with a flat bottom.  Dip glass into the sugar and press down on the cookie dough until the sides spill out.  Repeat by dipping the glass into the sugar and pressing the cookies.

Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove with a spatula and let cool on a wire rack until cookies are completely cooled.  Pipe the royal icing into the center of each cookie.  Let cool for several hours or until icing is hard.  Use edible colored pens to decorate each one.  Store in an airtight container for several days.

Royal Icing

2 Cups Confectioners Sugar

3 Tablespoon warm water

1 Tablespoon + 1 ½ teaspoon Meringue Powder

Beat all ingredients in a stand mixer until icing forms peaks.  For thinner icing, which I used, add 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the proper consistency.  Add to a piping bag to provide great control.