Yummy Mummies & Spooky Spirals

Nightmarish nibbles to please even your most ghoulish guests!

Prep & Cooking: 1 hour (plus cooling and frosting time)
Makes: 18-24 cookies depending on thickness

Cookies
Main Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour, or gluten free blend
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup or agave nectar (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)
1/3 cup plant-based butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp plant-based milk
Pinch of salt

Yummy Mummies Cookie additions:
Small red candies, such as; pieces of jellybean or chopped cranberries to be used for Mummy eyes
Frosting – see recipes below

Spooky Spiral Cookie additions:
1 tbsp cocoa powder
A few drops of orange or combine red and yellow food colouring
Halloween coloured sprinkles (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and stir together until all ingredients are incorporated and there are no lumps. Separate the dough in half and one half again. You should have three pieces of dough, one larger than the other two.

The two smaller pieces of dough will be tinted with cocoa powder and food colouring for a Halloween effect. Add the cocoa to one piece of dough and work through with a spoon or clean hands until a uniform dark brown colour is achieved. Do the same with the second small piece of dough and the food colouring to create an orange colour.

The dough should be firm and easy to roll into three balls. Refrigerate the dough balls for 10-20 minutes while you make the frosting. (Cookie Method continued below)

Frosting
Main Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp plant-based milk
½ tsp vanilla

Method:
In a bowl, blend together all ingredients until no lumps remain; using a fork can help to break up any lumps of powdered sugar. The frosting should be thick and spreadable. If it is too runny, add more sugar 1 tbsp at a time.

These cookies are best frosted no more than a day before you plan to eat them.
They can be stacked in a container after the icing has firmed up, but to be safe, place parchment or waxed paper in between layers of cookies.

Cookie Method Continued:
Remove the plain dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a floured surface to around a ¼ of an inch. Using a 2 inch cutter, a mason jar, or any other round cutter, cut around 10-12 circular cookies. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.

While the Yummy Mummies are baking get started on the Spooky Spirals. Roll each of the coloured dough balls out into a rectangle approximately ¼ inch thick. The rectangles should be about 4”x 8”. Place one rectangle on top of the other (see photos) and roll together tightly on the short side. When the spiral roll is complete, cut the dough log into ¼ inch slices using a sharp knife. This will create around 8-10 cookies. Top the cookies with coloured sugar or sprinkles if you choose and transfer the spiral cookies to the prepared cookie sheet to bake for 10-12 minutes.

Transfer warm cookies to a cooling rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
When cookies are cooled completely frost the Yummy Mummies with the frosting recipe found above, or if you would prefer to use something you have purchased – go for it! Frost the cookies by evenly coating the cookies one at a time with a thin layer and allow frosting to set as you complete them one at a time. Beginning with the first frosted cookie, add additional icing, thicker this time, using a knife and spreading the frosting from side to side; the messier the better to create a bandaged effect. Place the red candies or cranberries on as eyes and give the cookies a few minutes to set.


Tips & Variations:

• This dough if quite versatile, use it to create any shape you’d like with cutters or by hand – see photos for the witch fingers with pumpkin seed finger nails
• You can make the dough ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator in a sealed container for a week or in the freezer for up to one month
• If you are using sprinkles or other decorations for the unfrosted Spooky Spirals make sure you place them on the cookies before you pop them in the oven to bake, decorations work best if you give them a gentle press into the dough
• The cookies themselves are not overly sweet until frosting or candy decorations are added, if you prefer a sweeter cookie omit the optional maple syrup above and add an additional 1/4 cup of sugar