October is here and cooler weather has arrived! Time to start thinking about fall and Halloween cookies. In her cookbook, “Sally’s Cookie Addiction”, Sally McKenney shares her Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookie recipe. It is like her recipe in the link below, except that you whisk 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into the flour mixture at the beginning of the recipe.
This is a wonderful fall-flavored sugar cookie! Decorate with traditional buttercream, a glaze, or royal icing.
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/decorated-sugar-cookies/
An easy way to decorate cookies is to use edible wafer paper. The Fancy Flours website has so many to choose from – for every season and holiday.
https://www.fancyflours.com/product/Jack-O-Lantern-Wafer-Paper/halloween-themed-edible-wafer-paper
You start by making your sugar cookies (I used the Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookie recipe). Make Royal Icing and color to complement your wafer paper. Frost cookies and allow to dry completely. Cut out designs.
Use a light corn syrup to “glue” the wafer paper design to the cookies. Use a small craft brush and coat the entire back with corn syrup. Make sure the cover the edges really well. Wiggle the design in place and press down the edges. Go around the cookie several times, making sure all the edges are “glued” down. Gently smooth top with paper towel and smooth wafer paper one more time.
Turn the cookies over on a piece of wax paper and let set for 10 minutes. Turn cookies back over and allow to dry completely.
How fun are these? Once dry, you could pipe a border or add other decorations.
Using three colors of royal icing you can create beautiful autumn leaves. Pipe one color along the outside border for about 1/2 inch, pipe second color inside it, and third color in the center. Use a toothpick to “pull” color out from the center to main points, the using same toothpick “pull” color from outside edge in between each of the previous lines. See full directions in the website below.
Swirling fall leaves are a fun project for kids – everyone can do this.
Add 2-3 drops of food coloring to a small bowl of your icing, then drag a toothpick through it to make swirls. Dip the top side of the cookie in the frosting and let the excess drip off, let it dry on cooking rack.
You can also make fun polka dots by applying dots of second color to base color while it is still wet.
Use you favorite sugar cookie and frosting recipes for fall. Can add cinnamon or pumpkin pie spices to your cookie dough to give it a fall flavor. Try adding a bit of maple syrup to you icing.
Enjoy the fall ! Enjoy creating!
