Spooky halloween finger cookies

Now, I know Halloween isn't a tradition that is widely celebrated here in Australia, but it's popularity has progressed somewhat over the years. During a visit to my local supermarket the other day, I noted that the Halloween 'jack-o-lanterns' carving pumpkins were on sale - something you never would have seen when I was a child. The few who did choose to carve pumpkins had to make do with the traditional Jap or Queensland Blue varieties.


That said, I do remember when I was a young child, Girlfriday and I did partake in several years of 'Trick-or-Treating' around our local block, usually with one of our parents in tow. We would usually bypass the red brick house half way down our street as it was home to the mean chihuahau dog that used to chase us whenever it got the chance. I know they are small, but boy were we scared of this one!


Most of the houses in our street were generous when it came to filling up our lolly bags, it was a lot of fun and our costumes involved some variation of the traditional ghost - white sheet with holes cut out of it. I'm sure kids costumes these days are far more elaborate.  


One year, we knocked on the door of this one house in our street where an elderly man lived alone, we were a little scared as he was somewhat of a recluse and through the eyes of a child, he looked a little mean. This night, he opened the door and we echoed the words 'trick-or-treat' . He mumbled something and told us to wait. He was gone a while, only to come back with two bananas. "Here you go" he said,giving us one each before shutting the door. 


Bananas!!! 


Being kids we wanted lollies!


Fast forward to 2011 - little had we known that the old banana would become the luxury item it has today. (For those of you reading this outside Australia - 75% of our banana industry here in Australia was affected by a tropical storm earlier this year which pretty much wiped out our supply and sent prices skyrocketing).


I personally love Halloween and all it's associated activities. Particularly those surrounding spooky looking foods. Last year, I made some spooky cupcakes and featured them in my Top 10 Cupcakes post earlier this year.

For this Halloween however, I was inspired by Louise from Cake Journal who made some Halloween dead finger cookies. They look amazing and so I have made some this year too. I took them into work and shared them with my colleagues. What I love about this recipe is that they are super fun to make, look amazingly real and fit the 'spooky' Halloween brief really well.


Spooky Halloween Finger Cookies
adapted from Louise @ Cake Journal ( Halloween Dead Finger Cookies)

You will need:Basic cookie dough (recipe below)
A pastry brush
Plastic wrap
20-30 blanched almonds ( skin removed), cut into halves.
1 teaspoon dark cocoa powder + a little brush
Flat baking trays
A knife

Basic Cookie Dough Recipe:

This recipe makes between 25-30 finger cookies 

Ingredients

2 large eggs (1 whole egg + 1 yolk. Use the leftover egg white for brushing the cookies)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla, almond extract ( I used 1 whole vanilla bean)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (65 grams) icing sugar
5 tablespoons (60 grams) granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 2/3 cups (235 grams) plain flour

Method

1. In a bowl add the two types of sugar, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and the egg + yolk. Stir well with a wooden spoon.

2. Next stir in the softened butter
3. Add the flour and stir until it’s all combined
4. Take the dough and knead it lightly. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

To make the spooky finger cookies:

1.Take a small piece of cookie dough (walnut size) and roll it back and forth. You should make the finger long and thinly (think, witch long and creepy) for best results. Pinch to form knuckles. Use your knife to score 'wrinkles' into the finger and transfer the fingers to the prepared baking tray. Brush the cookies with the leftover egg white and place a almond “nail” on the cookie fingers. Chill for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

2.Next, place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven and bake the finger cookies for about 12-15 minutes. They should be just lightly browned. ( If are using a fan forced oven the cookies will only need about 10 minutes. Just be sure to keep an eye on them).


3. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.


4. Dust the fingers with a little cocoa powder and your spooky finger cookies are ready to be served.

Tell me, do you celebrate Halloween? What spooky recipes or events will you be enjoying this year?