Recipe
Halloween Sugar Cookies
These spooky, festive Halloween sugar cookies are a fun treat to bake together at home.
Time: 3 hours 
Difficulty: Intermediate
Yield: 40 cookies (approx.)Ingredients
Vanilla Cookies:
- 350 g all-purpose flour (approx)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1,5 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 200 g unsalted butter (cold)
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 1 eggs
Colored Icing (Royal Icing):
- 600 g powdered sugar
- 3 egg whites (pasteurized if possible)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- Gel food coloring (optional)
- A little water
Instructions
Vanilla Sugar Cookies:
- In a bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, vanilla, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon.350 g all-purpose flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 1,5 tsp baking powder, 1 pinch salt
- Cut the butter into pieces and put it in another bowl with the sugar. Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until creamy. Add eggs and beat quickly until combined.200 g unsalted butter, 200 g granulated sugar, 1 eggs
- Add the all-purpose flour mixture to the wet mixture a little at a time, stirring as you go. Knead the dough with your hands until smooth.
- Divide the dough into three portions. Dust the counter and rolling pin with a little flour, then roll out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm / ¼ inch. Cut out sugar cookies one at a time and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the sugar cookies one baking sheet at a time at 180 °C (356 °F) for 7-9 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Colored Icing:
- Combine powdered sugar, egg whites, and lemon juice in a bowl (a stand mixer bowl works great), and mix on low speed until it comes together. No stand mixer? Just stir it together with a wooden spoon.600 g powdered sugar, 3 egg whites, 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Increase the mixer speed and beat the icing for about 5 minutes, until it's stiff enough to hold peaks on its own. No stand mixer? Use a hand mixer instead.
- Divide the icing in small bowls, one bowl per color you want to use for the cookies. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the icing so it doesn't form a crust.
- Tint the icing by adding gel food coloring and stirring well with a spoon until the color is completely even. Remember to press plastic wrap onto the icing again until you're ready to use it.Gel food coloring
- Before using the icing, adjust the consistency to suit your purpose. Read exactly how to do this and test the consistency further up in this post.A little water
- Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a tip and pipe it onto the sugar cookies as desired.
- Let the frosting set at room temperature.
Notes
Storage: Store the frosted cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.