Dawn of the Creepy Witches’ Fingers

My friend, Dawn, brought these cookies to work one year.  Some people could hardly stand to look at them.  Creepy witches’ fingers are now part of our Halloween fun.  And every year, I think of Dawn.  The recipe is super-easy to follow and only takes a few ingredients.

You need:

    • butter
    • flour
    • almonds
    • vanilla
    • almond flavoring
    • powdered sugar
    • baking powder
    • salt
    • red gel icing.

The original recipe calls for blanched whole almonds.  For some reason, these are hard to find.  Slice almonds work well, they look like dirty fingernails.  Whole almonds work just as well also.

This recipe really does yield about 5 dozen goulash fingers.

Soften 2 sticks of butter (1 cup or ½ pound) to room temperature

Heat the oven to 325°F

Put the following in a mixing bowl:

1 cup softened butter (see above)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Almond flavoring

Beat until creamy.

Add in a pile:

2 2/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix the baking powder and salt around into the flour just a little before mixing everything together.

Using about 1 tablespoon or about a ball the size of a walnut, roll into “fingers.”

Don’t worry about getting this just right.  It’s better if the “fingers” are bumpy or bent or even broken.  I like to get helpers for this, just because they gives more variety to the fingers.  After all, fingers come in a lot of shapes and sizes.

Press an almond into one end of each finger.  (This is the fingernail.)

Bake the fingers at 325°F for 20-25 minutes.

Take the almond off and squirt a drop of red gel icing in the nailed.  Press the almond gently into the icing.

Use enough icing to squirt out a little around the edges and make the fingers look bloody.

20121101-064801.jpg
My assistant, Miss K.

Thanks Dawn!

You are forever part of my Halloween fun.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta