These festive yellow, orange and white sugar cookies make the perfect dessert for the Halloween party table! They’re soft and so yummy!
I’ve mentioned before that I love the idea of candy corns, but not so much the taste. You’d never catch me snacking on them. But you just might see me admiring a handful of them for their pretty colors and sheer holiday cuteness.
Which is exactly why I like creating treats that look like candy corns, but don’t resemble them in flavor…just like today’s adorable cookies.
Do you like candy corns? I’ve been observing other bloggers’ polls on Facebook over the matter and it seems to be split almost 50/50.
My kids pretty much beg me year round to make these Watermelon Slice Cookies, so I decided to make a Halloween version. The recipe is basically the same as the one for these Back to School Apple Cookies, because you’ll never taste a yummier or more soft sugar cookie. Why change when you’ve got a good thing going? This is a family recipe and a delicious one to boot.
Of course you’ll color two equal portions of the dough yellow and orange and leave a small portion white. I’m crazy OCD about my cookies having the same color pattern (and in the same order from top to bottom) as the real deal, so I put in a little more effort to make them like that, but if you don’t care, you can crank these babies out much quicker by alternating the cookie cutter going up and down on the dough. Either way they’re super cute! Just make sure if you go this route that you divide the dough into three equal sections before chilling it.
The kids and everyone else will go wild for these! Mine asked for me to send one in their school lunches so they could show them off to their friends and make them jealous. 🙂
These would be so fun for class parties too! I know my kids’ teachers usually ask for sugar cookies to be brought in, in bulk for celebrations this time of year, so I’m thinking I’ll whip up another batch of these beauties if that happens again.
I’m sharing a quick photo tutorial below for what they look like once rolled out and cut.
{CANDY CORN CUTOUT COOKIES}
Makes at least 24 cookies
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. vanilla (yes, that’s one tablespoon)
4 c. all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. milk
Yellow and orange food coloring gel
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together eggs, sugar, shortening, butter and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Add half the dry mixture to wet mixture and mix. Add 1/3 c. milk and mix. Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix. Add the final 1/3 c. milk and mix until incorporated.
Pinch off a small portion of dough and place it in a bowl and cover with saran wrap. The white portion of the candy corn is the smallest, so you won’t need as much.
Split the remainder of the dough in half and separate into two bowls. Stir in yellow food coloring gel into one and orange food coloring gel into the other. I like the gels because the color is more vibrant and it doesn’t add unwanted liquid to the dough. Cover both bowls with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator with the white dough to chill for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the oven preheat before you cut the cookies out because you’ll want to be able to stick them right into the fully warmed oven when they’re ready.
Flour your surface, grab a section of yellow dough and roll it out to be slightly more than 1/4″ thick. You don’t want them to be too thin or they’ll get crispy. Use a butter knife to ensure the edge is straight where the orange dough will meet up. Now grab a piece of orange dough and roll it out to the same thickness as your yellow dough and into a long rectangular piece that matches the length of your yellow dough. Place it right next to the yellow dough and use your index finger to smooth the seams together. At this point, place your candy corn cookie cutter over the dough to see if you’ll need to trim the orange to allow space for the white section. Grab a little bit of white dough and roll it out to be the same thickness and length as the others. Place it next to the orange dough and use your index finger again to meld the seams together.
Now cut out the cookies with your cookie cutter, remove them carefully with a metal spatula and place on a prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 7 or 8 minutes.
Continue the process with the remaining dough. Separate the excess dough and reuse it, but flour the surface again each time.
Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container so they don’t dry out.
This may seem intimidating but it really is easy to accomplish and so worth the end results!
Hold the candy corns, but give me all the candy corn cookies!Halloween just wouldn’t be complete without a batch or two of these delightful things! Enjoy!
Linda says