Inspired by SweetMama Nadine’s costume post yesterday I decided to try making my own Halloween goodies this year. I realize that may mean I missed the point a bit but who doesn’t love cookies? Mind you, T. and I live in a condo so we don’t really need homemade treats or the store bought variety for that matter but I’ve always wanted to try Canadian Living’s Witches Fingers so I decided to go for it.
The recipe itself is quite simple, just a classic sugar cookie recipe with almond extract for a little extra flavour (I added some green food colouring for effect). It’s the shaping and decorating that make it so unique. Making the batter was easy, shaping the dough a little trickier than I thought. I just couldn’t get my knuckles to look realistic. Nonetheless I decided to throw them in the oven and hope for the best.
The result? Witches fingers, no. Ogres toes, yes. My first batch of cookies came out looking like I’d chopped Shrek’s pudgy piggies right off.
Round two, I tried using less dough and making my fingers longer and skinner. They looked more like the boney digits in the picture but still not perfect.
Thankfully I had a little dough left. Third time’s a witches charm, right? Not exactly. Batch three looks pretty similar to batch two. I guess I should have started practicing sooner, or even better, listened to Nadine and hit my local bakery instead.
Nut-free tip: Try using jelly beans instead of almonds for the fingernails. Enjoy!
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