Halloween dark chocolate cookies

It’s that time of the year when you’re counting the days to Christmas, but you’re a bit Halloween obsessed as well and you don’t want the madness to end! These easy-to-bake, dark and decadent chocolate cookies are perfect for Halloween, a simple treat you can bake in batches and then go a bit crazy with the icing. You can make these as gory or fancy as you want, but at the end of it all you still have a humble delicious chocolate cookie sure to impress! Better late than never, so here’s the recipe to my Skellington & blood spatter Halloween cookies!

INGREDIENTS (makes approx. 20 cookies)

For the cookies:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup corn flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Note: Using pure dark cocoa lends a deep dark colour to the cookie as well)
• 1¼ cups plain flour

For the royal icing:

• 2 large egg whites
• 4 teaspoons orange/lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/14 cups icing sugar

You will also need: A 2 inch round cookie cutter, liquid or gel food colours, a piping bag and a #2 round tip nozzle.

Note: If you wish to make the cookies like in the picture, I’ve used dark red/maroon and black food dyes to decorate the Halloween themed cookies.

METHOD

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until it turns pale. Add in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract and continue to whisk until thoroughly combined.

Add the egg and whisk the mixture until combined.

Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl: plain flour, salt, cocoa powder and corn flour and fold through with a spatula until thoroughly combined.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.

Split your cookie dough into half. Evenly roll out one half of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

Start cutting out the shapes with the help of your cookie cutter. Once that’s done, transfer the parchment paper with the cookies onto a baking tray and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes until they firm up.

Place in the baking tray into oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes.

Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.

Once out the oven, place the cookies on a wire rack until completely cool.

To make the royal icing, whisk together the egg whites and orange/lemon juice, vanilla extract, in a mixing bowl. Sift in the icing sugar, 1/2 a cup at a time and continue to whisk thoroughly until completely smooth.

Transfer the icing into a piping bag fitted with a round tip nozzle. Once the cookies have cooled, pipe a circle leaving a bit off the edge and fill it in with icing.

Set the cookies aside for a few hours to dry completely before decorating it any further.

Skellington cookies: Place the cookie onto a work surface and paint on the faces in black food dye using a fine paintbrush. Avoid thinning out the food dye too much with this one, the dry brush effect tends to make it look more spooky!

Blood spatter cookies: Line the cookies up close together onto a sheet of paper. Add a few drops of water to the red food dye to achieve a thinner consistency and splatter it across the cookies with the help of a thicker paintbrush. (This could get real messy with the food dye so be sure to cover your work surface before you go nuts with the splattering!)

PRESSURE POINTS

In order to avoid incorporating too much air into the cookie dough, do not over whisk the batter. This ensures that the sugar cookie does not spread and maintains its shape once in the oven.

Make sure to chill the cookies before placing them in the oven for best results. This step is especially important if you have intricate shaped cookies.

Do not attempt to ice the cookies until they are completely cool. Trust me, icing and warm cookies do not go well together and you’ll end up with a sloppy mess.

If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to see how it turned out. Leave a comment below and share your pictures on Instagram using the tag #thecookbooklife!

Hope you all had a great Halloween! Happy baking!

Nikita xx

 

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