Fingers Crossed.

This entry was posted in Cookies and tagged Almond, Fingers, Halloween, Recipe, Shortbread, Witch on October 27, 2011.

Have you ever had one of those thoughts that seemed like a good idea at the time then suddenly you find yourself wrist-deep in cookie dough and the cat is trying to eat the styrofoam gravestones and somehow you spent a small fortune on things like faux cobwebs and glow-in-the-dark skeletons?

This weekend our house will be invaded by a handful of twelve year old girls hopped on on handfuls of sugar. Sugar that I will be providing in abundance. Sugar that I will be encouraging the consumption of. Sugar laid out in pretty packaging on pretty platters and in pretty bowls.

Let's not forget this was all my idea. I claim full responsibility for any resulting cavities, scraped knees, overturned soda bottles, pumpkin carving injuries and popped eardrums.

I'm the sort of person that has the tendency to get a little carried away. Being creatively inclined I am all too familiar with the frustrating feeling that comes from imagination not matching up with reality. I have to remember I have a big imagination. This time I wanted to get it right. This time I wanted to throw an awesome party for Sable. This time I wanted her friends to talk about it for years to come.

So yeah, we pulled out all the stops. Fog machine, strobe light, spooky sounds CD, bubbling cauldron, dessert table, pumpkin carving, talking crows, ghost stories... The works!

And, of course, I couldn't forget the classic Witch Finger Cookies. I'm sure you've seen them before. It's nothing new, but I make them every year and I thought it was time to share them with you. Mine are a bit different. A little less blood and gore and more delicious almond flavour.

Just a little something to make the perfect Halloween party even better!

Almond Witch Finger Cookies Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Source: Adapted from my family recipe.

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 4 tbsp corn syrup 2 tsp almond extract 3 cup flour 1/4 tsp salt

Blanched almonds for garnish

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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper then set them aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add the egg, corn syrup and almond extract then beat it until it's combined well.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour and salt then add it to the butter mixture and mix it well.

Scoop a heaping tbsp of dough for each cookie and roll them into cylinders. Create knuckle shapes by rolling the cylinder lightly between two fingers then use a knife to make wrinkles on the knuckles. Taper one end slightly and lightly press an almond into it to form the fingernail.

Bake them for 10 minutes until the edges turn a light brown. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!