Halloween Ghost Cookies recipe

These Ghost Cookies are such a classic Halloween cookie. They're easy to make and everyone loves a sugar cookie! I made these ghost cookies in tandem with the Coffin Cookies because I was making white and black royal icing and this combination of two cookies uses both.

As for icing these, I used a packet of Royal Icing mixture. It's more expensive than making your own Royal Icing but I like the fact that it dries very quickly and when you have so many cookies to ice, it's definitely a good thing. Of course the drying time depends on the weather, if it's humid, it will take longer to dry. I made an almost equal batch of black and white to use on both the Coffin cookies and the Ghost cookies. I also couldn't resist and made some Bats too!

This recipe has been revised

Ghost Cookies

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes per tray

Makes 25

• 85g/3ozs butter, softened

• 140g/5ozs white caster superfine sugar

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 180g/6ozs all-purpose flour (or a bit more, I needed about 30g more for this batch)
• Royal icing mixture (white with a small amount tinted black for the eyes and mouth or black from the coffin ones above)

Step 1 - In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale. Beat in egg and vanilla. On low speed mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least 1-2 hours (or overnight).

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Step 3 - Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Step 4 - To ice with Royal Icing, mix Royal Icing mixture with a little water until a piped line is able to hold without blurring. You will need two consistencies of royal icing, a firmer one to draw an outline on the outside with a piping bag and once this has set, a more runny version (although not watery) to fill it in with a spoon. Pipe an outline around the outside of the cookie and do the outlines for the rest of the cookies, by the time you finish doing the outline for the cookies, the first cookie outlines will have dried. Add a little more water to the Royal Icing and then using a teaspoon dollop a little onto the cookies and with the back of the spoon, move it to the edges. Do not overfill and be careful to keep Royal Icing covered as it dries out easily.