Bloody Witches' Fingers
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Author Notes: I got this recipe originally from a long-forgotten holiday website for pre-schoolers - ironic since it's been my experience that little kids won't touch them...they're too creepy! I substituted powdered sugar for the granulated sugar called for, increased the butter and ended up with a tender shortbread. It's important to use a concentrated food coloring paste for the 'blood' to keep the gore factor up. It's not candy but it's definitely Halloweeny and great for trick-or-treat. p.s. It just hit me that I was watching Dexter while submitting the recipe :-) - svbooker
Serves 3-4 dozen, depending on size
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (less if using salted butter)
- 36-50 whole, blanched almonds
- red food coloring paste
- red decorating gel, if needed to attach nails
- Cream butter,sugar and egg, beat in extracts.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt (I don't sift this). In two additions, mix dry ingredients into creamed mixture until well combined.
- Wrap and refrigerate dough for 30-45 minutes. You don't want it to get so hard that the cookies are difficult to form.
- Put your feet up and study one of your fingers for a minute.
- Using ~1 T dough, roll into a finger-length cylinder and place on a parchment covered baking sheet. You may want to experiment with the amount...for me, a narrower shape looks more realistic. If you use much more dough, they tend to flatten out.
- Press an almond into the dough to make a fingernail, positioning it so that 1/3 of the almond extends beyond one end of the cylinder. Push a small amount of dough over the edges of the almond by gently pressing in the sides of the cylinder at that point.
- Make slight indentations on either side of the cylinder above and below where you want the knuckle to be.
- Using a paring knife or the bottom (large) end of a piping tip, make shallow cuts on the surface just below the nail and on the knuckle. The piping tip makes a more realistic, curved mark.
- Bake in a pre-heated, 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly colored. Best if the cookies don't darken at all.
- When cool, using a fine brush or a q-tip, apply the food coloring to the bottom end of the finger - and anywhere else you want! Allow the 'blood' to dry before covering.
- TIPS: 1) If a nail falls off, glue it back on with a little red gel decorator icing (in the cake mix aisle). I haven't tried this yet, but it might work to apply a little egg wash to the back of the almond before you first press it into the raw dough. 2) Rough up the bottom end of the finger with a knife before baking...looks a little gorier that way. 3) This looks like a lot of work, and it is, but it goes pretty quickly if you do each step on a tray worth of cookies at once...in other words, don't make each cookie individually from beginning to end, make all the cylinders, insert all of the almonds, etc.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Halloween Treat
Tags: Halloween, shortbread
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over 2 years ago Sadassa_Ulna
I played with your recipe subbing in grated cheese and ground nuts for the sugar. The dough was really thick so I added some olive oil. I added ground thyme (my favorite herb this week) and ground pepper in place of the flavorings. The recipe came out really well as a cracker on its own (I rolled it out), and worked well for making what I will call "witches' pinkies." I made a ketchup based glaze for the blood and that was really tasty. I posted the recipe in the hors d'ouvres & snacks section with a few photos: http://www.food52.com/recipes...
over 2 years ago svbooker
They look wonderful! The pistachios are even better than almonds as fingernails. I'm sure they're delicious and can't wait to try the recipe. Thank you!
over 2 years ago Sadassa_Ulna
I made a savory version and they were fun to make. I used a melon-baller to get the knuckle marks, and you are right, the smaller the better to avoid too much flattening and distortion. Thanks for sharing this great idea!
over 2 years ago svbooker
I'd love to know how you made these!
over 2 years ago Leilani
I made a version of these for a 3rd grade Halloween party, and had to experiment quite a bit to get a dough that would not spread. I'll definitely try yours. For the kids, all nuts have to be omitted (in case of allergies), so I sliced dried papaya for the fingernails. Do you think there's any problem with using all vanilla instead of vanilla and almond flavorings?
over 2 years ago svbooker
That's a great idea - I bet it looked good. Using all vanilla would be fine. I'm not crazy about almond flavoring so I cut back on it and increased the vanilla - that's how the recipe is written here. But, I ended up really liking the flavor this little bit of almond gives - more complex than vanilla alone.
over 2 years ago TiggyBee
How fun!!
over 2 years ago sugarcake10
These look so fun.I will make these for my grandchildren halloween party.Thank You!
over 2 years ago sugarcake10
These look so fun.I will make them for my grandchildren halloweem party.Thank you!
over 2 years ago Sadassa_Ulna
These are amazing. It sounds like you use the curved edge of a piping tip to get those curved knuckle marks - that is genius, probably goes very quickly.
Do you - or other bakers - think a savory version could work? Maybe subbing parmesan for the sugar and some cayenne for the flavoring? I don't make cheese straws but something along those lines?
Thank you for posting these!
over 2 years ago svbooker
thanks! I think a savory version is a great idea. You'll really have to test out some substitutions - and you could take a look at cracker recipes for some ideas. I don't have time to play with this now, but I'd love to hear from you when you come up with a great recipe!
over 2 years ago luvcookbooks
Meg is a trusted home cook.
This week is bringing out the artists!! These are too creepy to be beautiful, but they're art!! I feel a Halloween party coming on.
over 2 years ago Loves Food Loves to Eat
I make these every Halloween!!
over 2 years ago svbooker
Don't all you friends love them! Do you have any suggestions for people who might want to make them?
over 2 years ago svbooker
Thank you!
over 2 years ago mrslarkin
Mrs. Larkin is a trusted source on Baking.
Gross! I love it! What tool do you use to make the indentations?
over 2 years ago svbooker
If you mean the slight indentations on the sides of the cookie, I just used my fingers. For the lines on top, I used the large end of a piping tip. Glad you like them!
over 2 years ago lapadia
Cool!!!