With Fet Ghede just around the corner, I'd like to share an old recipe of mine that is perfect for this time of year.
Cinnamon Skulls
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup butter (not margarine), softened
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla*
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Icing, candies, etc. for decorating (see Decorating Ideas)
*I prefer to use the clear, double-strength vanilla flavoring that is found in specialty baking and cake supply shops -- it keeps the cookies a nice light color and adds a wonderful flavor!
Cream sugar and butter together in large mixing bowl. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and spices; slowly add this mixture to the large mixing bowl, combining well. Divide dough into three portions; wrap in plastic food wrap and refrigerate until firm.
Move oven rack to center of oven and preheat oven to 400o Fahrenheit. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut out cookies using a skull-shaped cookie cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 10 minutes, or until set and just lightly browned on edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before decorating as desired.
Decorating Tips: If your cookies came out a nice light color, you may wish to just draw on faces with chocolate or black icing, or melted chocolate. If you prefer to cover the skulls with white icing before adding facial features, try using candies for the features, or use melted chocolate or chocolate icing rather than black icing (I've found that when I used black icing on top of white, color would sometimes bleed out of the black icing into the white).
I make a candy glaze-type icing by mixing cocoa and powdered sugar together (plus black icing coloring if I want the icing to be black instead of brown), adding a splash of vanilla and/or maple flavoring, and stirring in just enough milk to make it the desired consistency (depending on whether I want to spread it or use a piping bag). If you accidentally make the icing too liquid, just add more sugar and cocoa until it reaches the proper consistency.
Allow icing to harden completely before storing the cookies, placing waxed paper between layers.
Ayibobo!
Khouzhan Phoenix
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