Cut-Out Butter Cookies - Happy Halloween!

I have tried many cut-out cookie recipes and this Martha Stewart recipe definitely has to be my favorite, the cookies taste really light, not too sweet and are soft but crispy.  I really like to bake cookies for my nephews, they always ask me to bake them different shapes and decorate them a certain way so I am always on the look out for cookie cutters and decorating ideas.  Halloween is almost here and I promised my niece I would make her some cookies and send them to her (she lives in WA).  I spent most of the morning decorating them but it was definitely worth it, they turned out great and I know the kids will love them :)

Happy Halloween!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups (spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer.  
2. Add flour and salt to the butter/sugar mixture, beat until it is the texture of a course meal.
3. In a separate small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla.  Add to the large bowl and mix, mix until the dough forms.
   
4. Divide dough in half; form into two balls. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees C. 
6. On a floured surface, roll out one ball at a time to a thickness of 3/16 inch.
7. Cut dough into desired shapes; carefully transfer to baking sheets. 
8. Place the baking sheet with the desired shapes for 10 minutes into the refrigerator (this will help the cookies hold their shape better).
9. Bake until edges are firm (not brown), 10 to 15 minutes for 3-inch cookies. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheets; cool completely on a wire rack. 
10. Decorate as you wish. ** I used some store bought frosting, adding food coloring, put the frosting in Ziploc bags, cut the tip and used that to pipe out the frosting to decorate the cookies.
11. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

CANDY CORN COOKIES:

1. In order to make the candy corn cookies, divide the dough into 3 pieces.  
2. If you do not have orange food coloring, mix the red and yellow food coloring together to make orange and add to the first piece of dough. 
3. Add yellow food coloring to the second piece of dough.
4. Leave the third piece plain.
5. Roll out each piece of dough into logs and stick together, yellow at the bottom, orange in the middle and the "white" or plain piece on top, now shape into a triangle.  It works better if you wrap all three pieces together in plastic then shape into a triangle.
6. Place dough into the refrigerator for 1 hour or until cool.
7. Once cool, slice by the desired thickness and bake at 350 deg C for 10-15 minutes.
8. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheets; cool completely on a wire rack.

PICTURES:

I love colored dough, it looks so pretty and fun!

Shaping the candy corn cookies, so festive!

Candy Corn!! Baked and ready to eat!

Rolling out the dough and cutting some pumpkins.

Decorating the cookies, check out my awesome Ziploc bags frosting bags. I had some leaf sprinkles so I added them to the pumpkin cookies.

Snickerdoodles !!

This recipe comes from the Joy of Baking and was found by my lovely fellow blogger, Nicolee.  The recipe is great as is but I like to use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, I think it makes the texture of the cookies softer.  Either type of sugar you use the cookie will turn out great! My friends and I love making these during the holidays and packaging them up to give to our friends and family.  I made these today for my nephew Max, he came over to celebrate my mom's b-day and was really disappointed I didn't have cookies for him.  His pouting made me feel so guilty I decided to make him snickerdoodles since they are super easy and quick to make! The ingredients are also something I always have around and the cookies are delicious :)

Snickerdoodles! I love saying that, it makes me feel like a kid!

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 cups (360 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar (or powdered sugar)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

COATING INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 deg F (190 deg C) and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. 
3. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, cover and refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls (one to two hours).
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  **When baking cookies I love using parchment paper, it prevents from the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet and over cooking at the bottom.
5. Shape the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls.
6. In a medium shallow bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
7. Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass or your fingers, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.
8. Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  **The cookies take exactly 8 mins to cook in my oven so just watch them carefully the first time so you don't over cook them and they become hard. 
9. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, at room temp, for about 10 - 14 days.

 PICS OF PROCESS:

Coating + Cookie Dough



Rolling the dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Flattening out the cookies with my fingers!

Cooling on the rack, ready to eat!