Black Cats and October Stars

Sweet Sunday Yummy Lit Review:

Black Cats and October Stars

First off - I finally have a computer-camera connection! And, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the end of a week of crazy due dates, late night research, and laptop drama than making a fresh batch of Halloween cookies.

These cookies are brand new to me... well kind of. See, there's this old Christmas Cookies recipe in my family. But it's Christmas Cookies - usually in the form of Christmas trees, Santa, stars... you get the picture. However, venturing into food coloured icing and spooky cats were uncharted cookie territory for me... until last night.


Here's the cookie recipe:

Combine in a bowl and set aside:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together in a mixer:
3/4 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (or almond)

- beat in the flour mixture until smooth
- chill for one hour or until firm
- roll a small amount of dough 1/8 inch thick (keep remaining dough in fridge until ready to use)
- cut into desired shapes
- put onto greased cookie sheet
- bake at 375* F for 8 to 10 minutes
- remove to wire racks to cool


And the Icing (from The Baker's Bible, p 454):

3/4 cup icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Red, Blue, and Yellow food colouring

Mix it all ingredients together, add a few drops of the colouring until the desired shades are reached.



These cookies were so much fun to make! Messy, and a bit time consuming, but fun nonetheless.

Getting the right colours might be tricky... at least it was for me. I went to the grocery store expecting to be able to buy black and orange food colouring. Instead I discovered that you can only buy the primary colours (and green, too). So, as a heads up, to make black combine a few drops of red, blue, and yellow food colouring. To get the exact shades will take a bit of time... especially if you haven't ventured into the art world for quite a while.

But, after a fun adventure with food colouring, I now have a cookie jar that practically screams Happy Halloween. Spooky black cats and red, orange, and yellow stars make the perfect festive cookie treat.

Hope you all have a Sweet Sunday,
Ms. C.