Ghost Cookies Recipes

HALLOWEEN GHOST COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a second bowl. Add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Dust a work surface with flour and roll out dough into a thin circle. Cut out tulip shapes; if your tulip cookie cutter has a stem, cut the stem off with a knife, so you have a stemless tulip shape. Arrange cut-out cookies on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from baking sheets carefully and transfer to wire racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• Stir 1 cup confectioners' sugar and milk together in a small bowl until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more corn syrup if icing is too thick.
• Spoon icing into a piping bag with a small plain tip. Pipe icing around the edge of each cookie to create a border. Fill in the middle completely with icing. Stick 2 chocolate chip cookies into the wet icing for the eyes. Let cookies stand until icing dries, about 1 hour.

GHOST SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Stir together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Combine the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined, about 1 minute.
• Starting on low speed, mix in the flour mixture in 3 additions; scrape down the sides of the bowl in between. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours, up to overnight.
• Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Cut the dough in half. Dust your work surface and the dough liberally with flour and roll one piece of dough about 1/4 inch thick. Cut as many ghosts as you can with a 3.5-inch ghost-shape cookie cutter and transfer to the baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough. Gather the scraps from both pieces of dough, then flatten, rewrap and refrigerate.
• Meanwhile, bake the ghosts, switching and rotating positions of the baking sheets halfway through, until golden on the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Repeat with the refrigerated dough scraps to get about 30 cookies in total.
• For the royal icing: Combine the egg whites and salt in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high until foamy, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon water. Beat on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and beat until the icing is thick and glossy but still pourable (like very thick paint), about 3 minutes, adding more water as needed to reach the right consistency. Transfer to another medium bowl.
• For decorating: Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and place a wire rack on each.
• Dip 1 cookie, face down, into the icing and let the excess drip back into the bowl, to evenly coat the top. Place icing-side up on the prepared wire rack. Add 2 jelly bean halves for the eyes and 1 licorice strip, curved up, for a smiling mouth. Repeat with the remaining cookies and candy. Let sit until the icing hardens completely, at least 1 hour.

EASY GHOST COOKIES

Steps:

• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Combine the white chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Once the chips begin to melt, stir occasionally until completely smooth. Remove from the heat but keep over the double boiler or saucepan to keep the white chocolate warm.
• Working with 1 cookie at a time, dip into the warm white chocolate until almost completely coated. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the chocolate evenly over the cookie and lay on the prepared baking sheets. Once all of the cookies are dipped, refrigerate until the white chocolate is set, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the semisweet chocolate chips in a small heatproof bowl over the double boiler. Stir until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe 2 oval eyes and a slightly larger oval mouth on each ghost cookie. Return to the refrigerator until set, about 10 minutes.