Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Create spooky treats with Witch Finger Cookies this Halloween. A fun and easy recipe perfect for parties, the workplace, school, and gatherings.
Each witch finger is thick and buttery with hints of almond, although you don’t need to use extracts.
The nail is a raw almond that is glued on with red decorating gel after the cookies are baked.
With so many Halloween parties, this witch-finger cookie recipe is the perfect treat.
These are also great little treats to send with the kids to school or daycare if they are permitted.
Perhaps you’re having a Halloween party at work and need to bake a spooky treat with you.
Even if someone else makes a batch, don’t worry.
They will all get eaten up as I’ve never had leftovers to take home.
Halloween is Oct 31, and if you want a fun and easy cookie recipe, you must make these Witch Finger Cookies.
Homemade Scary Witch Finger Cookies Are Easy
Can you make witch finger cookies without almonds? YES.
To make the cookies nut-free, eliminate the blanched almond and fill the indent with white candy.
You can’t buy these witch finger cookies around where I live, but they are so inexpensive.
From my calculations, this recipe costs around $5.00, not including time and hydro.
That’s not bad for a yield of just over 36 witch finger cookies, which are a good-sized treat.
The best part is that the witch finger cookies are fun to make, and making these with the kids.
Witch Finger Cookie Ingredients
The ingredients for this witch finger cookies recipe start with simple pantry ingredients.
The Bulk Barn and Amazon Canada have the lowest prices for blanched almonds and red decorator gel.
This witch finger cookies recipe has been made at our house for Halloween for the past ten years.
Conveniently, this Halloween cookie recipe is a tradition in our house with a cup of coffee to dip in.
Our 7-year-old son loves to dip the witch finger cookies in a cold glass of chocolate milk.
Shortbread Cookies Transform To Witch Finger Cookies
My mum would make similar cookies but not for Halloween, just everyday shortbread butter cookies.
For the imaginative baker, you could switch this scary witch finger cookie recipe up for any occasion.
The only change made over the years is adding the almond extract flavouring.
Initially, the cookie required vanilla extract, and it wasn’t tasty enough, so we used both.
Add warts by pressing a chocolate chip into the witch’s finger.
However, if you dislike almond extract, try lemon or add anise extract to the cookie dough.
Alternatively, grate orange, lemon, or lime rind, then add them to the cookie dough.
Perhaps you’d like to change the finger colour to green, add green food colouring to the dough.
How to Make Spooky Halloween Witches Finger Cookies
Scary Witch Finger Cookies
Note: The printable version of this recipe is below.
Recipe Yield: 36
Total Time: 10 minutes to make, 30 minutes to refrigerator dough
Oven Time: 7-10 minutes
Oven Temp: 350 degrees
TIP: Cook for 7 minutes, then check the bottom. If the base has browned, pull them and move them to a rack to cool.
If you over-cook these cookies, they will get too hard and not taste the best.
Witch Finger Cookies Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Almond Extract
- 1.5 tablespoons of Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup confectioners sugar (icing sugar) and a bit for your surface 1/3 cup
- 1 cup of butter (softened)
- 2 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tube of red decorator gel
- About 45 blanched whole almonds
Instructions To Make Witches Fingers
- In a mixing bowl or stand mixer add butter and icing sugar and mix until fluffy (2 mins).
- Add in both extracts and mix
- Add in the egg, then mix for 1 minute until blended
- Slowly add in your flour, salt, and baking powder and mix until it is all blended
- Put in a bowl, wrap with cling wrap, and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill (this makes it easy to handle)
- Sugar your surface with icing sugar, then take a chunk of the dough in your hands
- Roll the dough into a snake-like figure that is nice and even
- Cut the first finger about 1.5 inches long and use this as your guide for the rest.
- Ensure you roll them thinner, or they will turn out chubby as some of mine did.
- Once you cut your fingers, squeeze the top of the finger so the sides come in, then press in a blanched almond.
- In the middle of the finger, squeeze again to form the knuckle, then using a knife, cut in knuckle lines.
- Place on a greased baking sheet or like I did on parchment paper.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, but I check at the 7-minute mark.
- If the cookie is brown underneath, pull it out. Don’t wait for the colour on top of the cookie will be too hard.
- Remove cookies to a cooling rack for 5 minutes
- Remove the almond and with red decorator gel, squeeze some into the nail bed, and then replace the almond.
How To Make Witch Finger Cookies
Happy Halloween from our home to yours!
Mr. and Mrs. CBB
Spooky Witch Fingers Recipe
Halloween Scary Witch Finger Cookies are a buttery shortbread classic and so easy and inexpensive to make.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Almond Extract
- 1.5 tablespoons of Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup confectioners sugar (icing sugar) and a bit for your surface 1/3 cup
- 1 cup of butter (soft)
- 2 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tube of red decorator gel
- About 45 blanched whole almonds ( I added in some extras)
Instructions
- Add butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl or stand mixer, then mix until blended.
- Add in the two extracts and mix
- Add in the lgiantegg then mix for 1 minute until blended
- Slowly add in flour, salt, and baking powder and mix until it is all blended
- Please put in a bowl, wrap with cling wrap, and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill (this makes it easy to handle)
- Sugar your surface with icing sugar, then take a chunk of the dough in your hands
- Roll the dough into a snake-like figure that is nice and even
- Cut the first finger about 1.5 inches long and use this as your guide for the rest.
- Make sure you roll them thinner, or they will turn out chubby like some of mine. They do grow in theoven.
- Once you cut your fingers, squeeze the top of the finger so the sides come in, then press in your almond.
- In the middle of the finger, squeeze again to form the knuckle, then cut in some knuckle lines using a knife.
- Place on a greased baking sheet or like I did on parchment paper.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, but I check at the 7-minute mark. If the cookie is brown underneath, pull it out. Don’t wait for the color on top of the cookie to be too hard.
- Remove cookies to a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
- With your decorator gel, remove the almond, squeeze some into the nail bed, and then replace the almond.
- Baking Tip: Cook for 7 minutes, then check the bottom. If the bottom has browned, move them to a rack to cool.
- If you over-bake these cookies, they will get too complicated. They may not look done on the top, but they are.
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!
There you go, enjoy your Scary Witch Finger Cookies!
P.S. If you want to make them even scarier, you can add green colouring to the cookie dough.
Discussion: What other ways have you dressed up your scary witch fingers?
Please share your comments below.
Mr.CBB
OMG!! i cant eat fingers 😛
But they are so tasty Pawandeep.. really they are good.. dip them in tea mmm
sure!! i’ll try them
Hey, I’m a bloke and they were super easy to make.. so pat on the back for Mr.CBB.. ah! Cheers Pawandeep!
CHEERS!! 😀
🙂 that’s my line! haha.. have a good night! Mr.CBB
They look great! Perfect to bring to a Halloween party or work! You never cease to amaze me Mr CBB! 🙂
Better than my brownies haha
Awesome! These look great, Mr. CBB. Children will definitely love these. 🙂
These look repulsively scrumptious. LOL! Is that a paw nestled next to the caramel squares?
Funny you mention it.. but ya that was my first thought when I made it. It was the test paw… I always make test cookies.. and that one tested perfect…
Nice job! They look awesome (and scary I might add!)
Thanks.. and they taste so good, very light, hardly any sugar.
Is 1 tbsp baking powder correct?
I’m not that other similar recipes and theirs are 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Thanks
Hi Chris,
Yes, that is the correct amount of baking power which helps the fingers rise and look similar to a real finger. Let me know how it goes. 🙂 Mr. CBB