31 Days of Halloween! Day2- Recipe: Severed Fingers

I really love these, they look creepy and taste incredible!

Severed (Witches') Fingers 

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract (or alternate flavoring extract)
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
*1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup almonds, whole 

**red frosting/ gel

*** red jam or jelly (especially raspberry)

****cocoa powder or finely ground coffee

Beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla in a bowl. 

Beat into the mix flour, baking powder (*frequently I don’t use any baking powder, which makes the fingers denser/less puffy), and salt. 

Cover mix and refrigerate 30 minutes. 

Work with one quarter of the dough mix at a time and keep remainder refrigerated.

Scoop out a slight tablespoon of dough, roll and shape into a finger for each cookie > gently squeeze dough to create knuckle shapes to either side and use a toothpick/knife to make knuckle crinkles.

Press an almond firmly into rounded end of each "finger" for a fingernail.

Bake at 325°F (160°C) on lightly greased cookie sheets for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. 

Allow to cool for ~3 minutes. 

** I've used red frosting to stick down the almonds and then put cuts into the fingers and line them with frosting.
Remove fingers from baking sheets and let cool.

*** Red jam or jelly can be heated to melting and used as a dip to make the ends of the fingers look bloody.

**** Cocoa powder and finely ground coffee can be used in the dough to flavor the fingers or mixed with a little water and brushed onto the fingers to antique them.

This shortbread recipe has a similar taste and consistency to biscotti and goes great with coffee or tea.

I've made this (approximate) recipe every year for over 10 years and have experimented quite a bit with it. This particular recipe has worked best for me, holds the finger shape, the flavor is great, and the base recipe is very easily altered.

 Enjoy! 

DeWyk