vegan mofo :: witches fingers, scary cookie recipe

Witches' Fingers: These cookies may not sound or look vegan, but they are!

Everyone needs a frighteningly good Halloween recipe to counter all the psychedelic, artificial-flavor and-color-packed candy that kids will inevitably be confronted with over the next few weeks. I made these arthritic little cookies one year for a Halloween party, not knowing how kids would react to them. I assumed the littlest trick-or-treaters might be freaked out by the bloody fingernails and gnarly joints, but they gleefully gobbled up them up. These cookies might look evil, but they taste freakishly good and are easy to make. 

This recipe first appeared in my 2nd cookbook, Celebrate Vegan and also last week in the Philadelphia Daily News, along with recipes from 2 other Philly Vegan MoFo Bloggers, Dawn of Vegan Fazool and Allyson of Manifest Vegan. 

If you make these, be sure to use natural food coloring. I did a post awhile back on how to make your own natural food coloring here. I bloody well hope you like the cookies! 

Witches' Fingers

• 1 cup Earth Balance or other vegan margarine, softened

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

• 1 tsp almond or rum extract

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 2/3 cups flour [I use part whole-wheat pastry flour, part white spelt]

• 1 heaping T soy flour

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup whole, blanched almonds

• Red food coloring [Natural, please!]

• Rubber gloves [Even natural food coloring, like red beets, stains!]

Makes about 5 dozen

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together Earth Balance, sugar, almond extract and vanilla. Add flours, baking soda, and salt, a bit at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

2. Cover with a tea towel and refrigerate 30 minutes. Divide the dough in 4.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Dip the almonds in food coloring to make "bloody fingernails."

4. Put on your gloves. Remove on fourth of the dough from the ‘fridge. Roll a one-inch ball of dough into a finger shaped cookie. Dip almond into red food coloring, then press it firmly into the top of the cookie end to make the nail. Using your finger, press down center of cookie to make a “knuckle” shape. Use a small knife to make several slashes on the knuckle.

Fingers....er....cookies, cooling on a rack

5. Place on lightly greased or silpat-lined cookie sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until just golden. Remove from cookie sheets and let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.