Description
These Shortbread Witches Fingers are spooky, buttery cookies perfect for Halloween. Made with simple ingredients like flour, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, they’re shaped to look like creepy witch fingers complete with almond slivers as nails. Chill and bake to crisp perfection, then optionally add red jam for a gruesome effect. A fun and festive treat that’s easy to prepare and delicious to enjoy.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 6 ounces all purpose flour (1 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon, spooned and leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch kosher salt
Wet Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 2 ounces brown sugar (1/4 cup, lightly packed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 1 tablespoon slivered almonds
Instructions
- Cream the butter mixture: Cream together the brown sugar, unsalted butter, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes using a mixer or by hand.
- Add dry ingredients: Add in the ground cinnamon, all-purpose flour, and kosher salt and fold gently until the dough just begins to come together. Be careful not to overmix.
- Form dough for rolling: Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. Press it gently together until no more crumbs remain, then press into a square shape.
- Roll out dough: Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the dough or dust a rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough into a rectangle between 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch thick evenly.
- Cut dough into strips: Slice the rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut every 1/2 inch widthwise to create many thin, long rectangles that will become the fingers.
- Shape the fingers: Pinch each rectangle three times along its length to create knuckle bumps – once 1/2 inch from the top, another 1/2 inch down, and a third pinch at the bottom.
- Prepare baking sheet: Transfer the shaped fingers to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat shaping with all the dough rectangles.
- Score knuckles: Slice three small lines horizontally across the bumps formed between each pinch for a realistic knuckle effect.
- Add fingernails: Slide a slivered almond into the tip of each finger to mimic a fingernail.
- Chill dough: Cover the baking sheet and chill the shaped cookies for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days in the refrigerator. This helps them hold their shape while baking.
- Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Remove the chilled cookies about 10 minutes before baking to let the pan warm slightly.
- Bake cookies: Bake the fingers for 9 to 11 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to turn golden brown.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
Notes
- You can substitute granulated sugar for the brown sugar if preferred.
- Add food coloring when mixing the flour to create green witch fingers for a festive touch.
- Any nut can be used for the fingernails if you don’t have slivered almonds.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- For a gruesome effect, add red jam to the fingernail and severed end of the cookie. Store these jam-added cookies in the refrigerator.
- Alternatively, add the red jam just before serving to avoid refrigeration.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 95
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 30 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 12 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
