Halloween Sugar Cookies

Sprinkling a bat

This is my Halloween post, part II.  I really felt the need to make these cookies, even though they were pretty tedious and time consuming.  I recruited Caroline to help me with the decorations. I took my recipe from The Joy of Cooking, doubling both the cookie batter recipe and the frosting recipe:
 

Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup white or brown sugar (I used white)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla (I used half almond extract because I love the flavor)

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in remaining ingredients.  Chill the dough 3 to 4 hours before rolling.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out, cut, and place cookies on a greased or lined cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 12 minutes.

Ready to be decorated

 

 I also took the frosting recipe from The Joy of Cooking:

1 lb (4 cups) confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2 to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy or light cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Site confectioner's sugar into a large bowl.  Add and mix the remaining ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer.  Continue beating until frosting is smooth.  It will be slightly stiff.  Add more liquid to reach the proper consistency.

I didn't know they sold black food coloring!

The frosting actually tasted really good. We separated the frosting and made three different colors: black, orange, and white. For white, I read that one or two drops of blue food coloring helps the color stay bright.

Ready to play

Then came the fun part. We had a blast decorating these special cookies.  We had a few tubes of decorative gels as well as some colored sugars. 

 

Feeling silly

 

So...many...cookies

So, we took these into work on Halloween and everyone  enjoyed them. However, there were a lot of bats left over. For some reason, no one seemed to want them (black frosting not appealing?). I was supposed to work a double and actually ended up getting cut... kind of think the cookies helped me get the night off!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A classic combo

Recently, I felt like baking something without having to go to the grocery store for ingredients.  I had two half-full bags of chocolate chips in the fridge that I decided I would turn into cookies. One bag was your standard Nestlé semi-sweet morsels, and the other was Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, which are noticeably bigger than your standard chips.  I thought they might be nice used together in a cookie.  A traditionalist when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I used the classic (easy!) recipe on the back of the Nestlé bag.  And so, the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar *I used half dark and half light, because I had the end of 2 boxes*

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12 oz. package) chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts *I used walnuts*

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. 

Mmm.. cookie dough..

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

 

Ready to be baked

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. *I like soft cookies, so I usually aim to have them out of the oven sooner rather than later.* Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.  

~

They turned out great! I took them in to work, and everyone seemed to love the big chips along with the little ones.  The only complaint I have is that the recipe said it makes 5 dozen cookies, and I barely came out with 2.5 dozen. They weren't huge cookies or anything - I dropped by tablespoonfuls like the recipe told me to. So, keep this in mind next time you're trying to make enough for, say, an entire restaurant staff. And the boyfriend was a little sad that there weren't any left at the house.