Cooking is Cheaper than Therapy: Witch Finger Cookies

Come on in. Relax, and sit for a spell...

They really do taste delicious, like little "finger size" short bread cookies. 

These little morsels have been a standard at many of our Witches Tea Party. There are plenty of recipes for Witches Finger Cookies, but I've noticed that many of the food site photos are "perfect" fingers.  I happen to think the gnarlier the better. As an example, if one of the almond "nails" falls off during baking, it makes the finger look scarier. The witch lost her fingernail in the cauldron of food! Think opposite of the pretty food at an English High Tea. Think creepy!  

My recommendations after making hundreds of these little witchy fingers: It's easy to make the dough the night before baking. Just keep it well covered or wrapped so it won't dry out. Work in small batches to keep the dough chilled. Also, make them smaller than your actual finger or else they will look like big fat witchy toes. But then again, a plate of witchy toes would be quite tasty... 

Ingredients:


1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional - of you don't have it, no worries)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sliced blanched almonds

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, and extracts. Beat in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

Working with one-quarter of the dough at a time, while remaining dough is kept refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoons full of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press an almond firmly into one end for nail. Squeeze in center to create a knuckle shape and use a paring knife or toothpick to make slashes in several places to form knuckle. Make cookies smaller than you think they need to be, as they spread when cooking. Remember, these are the "fingers of a witch" so they do not need to be perfect. In fact the homlier, the better. 

Place cookies on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for three minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.

Optional: You can leave the "nails" natural or "bloody" them up. Before you work with the dough, prepare almonds and paint them using red food coloring paste that has been diluted with water. Use a new clean artists paint brush to paint "nails."  Or paint half and leave the other natural to mix it up. 

Witch Finger cookies, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies,
and other scary treats! 

These cookies are a lot of fun to make, and especially a great family Halloween project for the youngsters in the household. Enjoy!