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A favorite classic shortbread cookie takes on a festive twist with these Halloween shortbread witches fingers. Brown sugar, cinnamon, and almonds are all you need to transform buttery shortbread into creepy cookie fingers.
There’s no other cookie that makes such a regular appearance in our house as the shortbread. Once I had the perfect shortbread ratio down on my husband’s favorite cookie, adapting it to new flavors and themes has been easy!
So far we’ve had white chocolate raspberry shortbread, spiced shortbread cookies, a chocolate tart with a chocolate shortbread crust and now a creepy cookie finger inspired by Halloween. Thanks to the simplicity of this cookie, it’s the perfect baking project to share with kids, or whip up in a hurry as a last minute Halloween treat.
Take a look more spooky Halloween recipes from our #HalloweenTreatsWeek Bloggers today: Halloween Cookies & Bars:- Meringue Witch Finger Cookies from BigBearsWife
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles from Devour Dinner
- Shortbread Witches Fingers from The Flour Handprint
- Gingerbread Mummy Cookies from 4 Sons R Us
- Hocus Pocus Mini Pancake Cereal from Fresh Coast Eats
- Count Chocula Cream Pie from Sweet ReciPEAS
- Individual Halloween Parfaits from Tastes of Homemade
- Radioactive Jell-O Shots from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Spiced Caramel Corn from Pastry Chef Online
- Halloween Strawberry Ghosts from I am a Honey Bee
- Easy Pumpkin Pudding Dip from Love and Confections
- Screamsicle Milkshake from For the Love of Food
The Witchy Look
I wanted to keep these cookies simple, something that 95% of my fellow home cooks would be able to whip up with what they have on hand. Shortbread is classically flour, butter, and white sugar and making the blond cookie look more witchy was thankfully quite simple.
- All-purpose flour – I kept this simple, be wary of using alternative flours, you may need to adjust the other ingredients if you choose to swap it.
- Brown sugar – Yup! that’s the secret, the molasses in brown sugar is great for flavor, and for a darker ‘dirtier’ witch finger cookie. Don’t forget, when you’re shopping for sugar, you can look to my sponsor Dixie Crystals for a quality consistent product!
- Butter – standard, unsalted butter!
- Vanilla extract – make your own for best flavor!
- Cinnamon – another secret! It’s just enough for coloring the fingers without making an overwhelming change in the flavor.
- Salt – Just a pinch in every cookie dough I make!
- Slivered almonds – The unusually shaped ones, or the broken fragments make the best witch fingernails!
Pro Tip: Don’t have slivered almonds? Go with what you’ve got! I’ve used blanched almond slivers, pecan pieces, and even whole almonds.
Making Shortbread Witches Fingers
I promise that making these are no more trouble than any other cut out cookie. And, since they’re ready to eat just minutes after they come out of the oven, they’re pretty perfect for a quick spooky treat.
- Cream the butter and sugar together well, but not so much that it becomes fluffy.
- Just barely mix the dry ingredients into the butter. I do this by hand and turn it out onto my work surface when there are still loose crumbs in my dough.
- Roll it out to between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thick and slice into narrow rectangles for easier shaping.
- Squeeze each rectangle three times, once about half an inch down, then down another half inch, then finally at the bottom of the rectangle.
- To make the fingers look more authentic, slice three lines in each of the two knuckles, the areas between the first and second pinched area, and between the second and third pinched area.
- For optimally shaped fingers after baking, chill the dough once all your fingers are shaped for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- To get the almond fingernails to stick, embed the bottom of the sliver into the cookie and press down gently to stick it.
- Bake until they appear dry and the bottom is just barely beginning to brown for the most tender cookie.
- Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
Storage & Other Questions
How well shortbread stores is part of this type of cookies great appeal. They’re the kind of cookie you can bake a day or two ahead and they still taste just as good. Once cooled completely, just pop them in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They’ll be good a few days past, but 5 days is optimal.
This is a pretty easy recipe that yields a good amount of cookies, around 30 with barely more than a cup of flour. It’s also fairly low in sugar compared to many other cookies, so feel free to snack on more than one!
If you’re interested in making them more witch like than they already are, feel free to add a few drops of green dye to the batter. I usually add this to the butter so it mixes in well as I blend in the flour.
I hope these buttery delicious, creepy witch finger cookies satisfy all your Halloween cookie cravings. They’re fun and easy, and give you just enough squirminess to suit the spookiest holiday of the year.
While you’re here, don’t forget to check out the other fabulous Halloween desserts on the blog!
- Slice & Bake Pumpkin Cookies
- Spider Web Chocolate Tart
- Bat Sugar Cookies
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting
- Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 6 ounces all purpose flour 1 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon (spooned and leveled)
- 4 ounces unsalted butter 1/2 cup
- 2 ounces brown sugar 1/4 cup, lightly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon slivered almonds
Instructions
- Cream together the brown sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add in cinnamon, flour, and salt and fold gently until dough just begins to come together. Turn it out onto a clean surface for rolling.
- Press dough gently together until no more crumbs exist, then press into a square.
- Lay a sheet parchment over the dough or use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle between 1/2" and 1/4" thick.
- Slice the rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut lines widthwise every 1/2" creating many thin, long rectangles.
- Shape each rectangle into a finger by pinching three times along its length. Once 1/2" in down, another 1/2" down, and a third time at the bottom of the rectangle.
- Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining rectangles.
- When fingers are all shaped, slice three small lines across the bumps created between the 1st and second pinch and the second and third pinches.
- Slide a almond sliver into the dough at the tip of the finger. Cover and chill baking sheet for 30 minutes, up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F, take cookies out while oven preheats (About 10 minutes to allow the pan to warm slightly). Bake when oven is ready for 9 to 11 minutes or when bottom is just barely beginning to color.
- Let cool on pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool.
Nutrition
I’d love to hear what you think, feel free to tag me on Instagram @theflourhandprint so I can see how it went! Until next time, Happy Eating!
Happy Halloween!
Spooky Season is here and it is time for 2020’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event! #HalloweenTreatsWeek is a yearly Halloween blogging event that is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife & its a creepy and haunting week-long event is filled with some amazingly wicked Halloween treats, recipes and some frightfully fun giveaways.“When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers ‘tis near Halloween.”
For the 3rd annual #HalloweenTreatsWeek event we have 30 hauntingly talented bloggers that are sharing their favorite Halloween recipes throughout the week!
Follow the hashtag #HalloweenTreatsWeek on social media and look at the bottom of each post to see all of the Halloween recipes that we’re sharing!
Plus, don’t forget that we have some great giveaways for you this week thanks to our amazing sponsor and bloggers this year!
Prize #1 from Dixie Crystals
OXO Good Grips 3-Piece Stainless-Steel Mixing Bowl Set
Prize #2 from Angie at BigBearsWife
Ninja OP301 Foodi 9-in-1 Pressure, Slow Cooker, Air Fryer and More, with 6.5 Quart Capacity and 45 Recipe Book, and a High Gloss Finish
Prize #3 from Nicole Taggart’s Origami Owl Jewelry Bar
Origami Owl Locket and Halloween Charms
Prize #4 from Kathy at Lemon Blossoms
6 Quart Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker
Prize #5 from Terri at Our Good Life
Young Living’s Thieves Mints ($50 Value)
Pop a Thieves Mint into your mouth for cinnamint-fresh breath after meals. Made with naturally derived ingredients and free of artificial sweeteners, dyes, and preservatives, Thieves Mints are a choice you can feel good about. Created with Young Living’s Thieves essential oil blend, these mints deliver minty coolness with a hint of warm, sugar-free sweetness. Thieves Mints come in a conveniently sized container that is great to take on the go!!
Prize #6 from Julie at Back To My Southern Roots
1 Copy of – The Peanuts Family Cookbook: Delicious Dishes for Kids to Make with Their Favorite Grown-Ups
Prize #7 from Peabody of Sweet ReciPEAS
1 Copy of her new cookbook “Holy Sweet! 60 Indulgent Recipes for Bigger, Better Desserts”
Prize #8 from Megan of Strawberry Blondie Kitchen
1 Copy of her cookbook, “Incredible One-Pot Cooking: Easy, Delicious Recipes for Exciting Meals Without the Mess”
Prize #9 from Nicole of For the Love of Food Blog
1 Copy of “Friends: The Official Cookbook”
Prize #10 from Michaela from An Affair from the Heart, Jennifer from Take Two Tapas and Michele from West Via Midwest
ONE (1) $75 Amazon gift card
Prize #11 from Shanaka from It’s Shanaka
ONE (1) $25 Amazon gift card
Prize #12 from Ashley from Cheese Curd In Paradise
Prize #13 from Amy from House of Nash Eats
ONE (1) $100 Amazon gift card
Nutrition information and cooking times are provided as a best estimate. Values may vary based upon ingredients and equipment.
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