Description
Deliciously spooky Shortbread Witches Fingers are perfect for Halloween treats. These buttery, cinnamon-spiced cookies are shaped like eerie witch fingers with almond slivers as fingernails, baked to a golden finish, and chilled to enhance their crisp texture.
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
- 1 tablespoon slivered almonds
Wet Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 2 ounces brown sugar (1/4 cup, lightly packed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Cream Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, cream together the brown sugar, unsalted butter, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Gently fold in the ground cinnamon, all purpose flour, and a pinch of kosher salt until the dough just begins to come together, taking care not to overwork it.
- Form Dough: Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and press it together until there are no more crumbs. Shape it into a square.
- Roll Dough: Cover the dough with a sheet of parchment paper or lightly flour the rolling pin, then roll the dough into a rectangle between 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch thick.
- Cut Dough: Slice the rectangle lengthwise in half, then cut crosswise into thin, long rectangles about 1/2 inch wide.
- Shape Fingers: Shape each rectangle into a finger by pinching the dough three times along its length—first at 1/2 inch down, second 1/2 inch further down, and then again at the bottom—to create knuckles.
- Indicate Knuckle Lines: Slice three small lines across the bumps created between each pinch to mimic knuckles.
- Add Almond Fingernails: Insert a slivered almond at the tip of each shaped finger to serve as the fingernail.
- Chill: Transfer the shaped cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 days to firm up the dough.
- Preheat Oven & Prepare to Bake: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Remove cookies from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before baking to slightly warm the pan.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the bottoms are just beginning to color lightly golden.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- You can substitute granulated sugar for brown sugar if preferred.
- For green witch finger cookies, add food dye during the flour addition step.
- Any nut sliver can be used as a fingernail if slivered almonds are unavailable.
- Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- To create a more gruesome effect, add red jam on the fingernail and finger ends either immediately and refrigerate, or wait until ready to serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 90
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 35 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 11 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
