Spooky Skull Cookies

Ding dong. “Trick or treat?”

I had skulls in mind the entire time and was thinking Halloween colors when the light bulb finally went off for these chocolate short bread cookie sandwiches with peanut butter buttercream filling. Using a regular round cookie cutter, skull shapes are formed by simply pinching in the sides a little bit past the center of the circle. A smaller round cookie cutter makes the eyes, and then a knife is used to cut out a triangle shape for the nose and a slit for the mouth. You can play around with the faces but even if you make them all the same, you’ll notice that they all kind of take on their own little personalities when baked.

Soon, a masquerade of princesses, superheroes, and ghouls will be crunching along your driveway on fallen colored leaves in search of a treat. Be prepared to satisfy the sugary solicitation of your fiendish friends, big and small, with these spooky skull cookies.

Yield: about two dozen sandwich cookies

Recipe by Maria Helm Sinskey, Food and Wine

- 2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened

- 1 cup confectioners' sugar

- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

- 2/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa

- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

- 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Peanut Butter Buttercream (about 1 cup)

Recipe by Martha Stewart Living, January 2004

-2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter

- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

- Fine salt (optional)

• For the cookies: in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla, and then beat in the cocoa on low speed. Beat in the flour and salt; the dough will be very soft. Divide the dough in half; wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll dough out to ¼ inch on a lightly floured work surface. Using a round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies. You can continue to re-roll the scraps, and stamp out more cookies.

• A little past the center of each of the cut out circles, pinch in to make a skull shape. Transfer the cookies to parchment paper–lined baking sheets. On half of the skull shapes, use a small round cookie cutter to make eyes. Use a knife to cut out a small triangle for the nose and a slit for the mouth. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until firm. Let cool.

• For the buttercream: cream peanut butter and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed. On low speed, mix in sugar until combined, then beat mixture on high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add salt to taste, if desired.

• After the cookies have been cooled completely spread the peanut butter buttercream on top of each plain skull cookie and top with skull face cookie to make a sandwich.

Recipe Source: http://www.cooksbookblog.com/2010/10/spooky-skull-cookies.html

Dana’s Notes: Instead of using a round cookie cutter, you could use a pear cookie cutter upside down, so the top of the pear cutter is the skull’s chin.