Halloween

For the most part, I prefer my Halloween cookies to be cute and cheerful rather than scary and ghoulish. This year I did some of both. These Cheerful Pumpkins were the cute kind and my Chubby Witch Fingers were the scary kind. I made the pumpkins in three sizes, a bit like a family with a Papa, Mama, and Baby. Oddly enough, all our trick-or-treaters this year were in family groups, too. Dads accompanied their little ones to the door, while the Moms stood in the background smiling.

I tend to shy away from the really macabre part of Halloween and focus on the cute and humorous. But this year I did both. These Chubby Witch Fingers are indeed scary but were toned down by their companions, my Cheerful Pumpkin Cookies. At least that was my hope.

Based on his recipe for TKOs Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, I’m inclined to agree that Michelin Star chef Thomas Keller [see footnote] is a culinary genius. His creation is an elegant interpretation of an Oreo cookie and I’m here to tell you that it is beyond delicious. I love the Halloween-themed cookies that it inspired me to make. Forgive me in advance for this terrible play on words, but... “Bone” apetit!

Chocolate and Cinnamon? Absolutely! The combination of chocolate and warm autumn spices make an irresistible bite...and a surprising sandwich cookie. When I gave a plate of these Chocolate-Filled Pumpkin Cookies to a friend, she expected my tried-and-true vanilla bean cookie filled with dark chocolate ganache. She was pleasantly surprised by the cinnamon-sugar coating and the pumpkin spices in the cookie itself and how well these flavors complemented the chocolate. In between bites, she mused on whether she would share a few with her family or keep them all for herself.

Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday cookie-baking season for me. Ghosts and black cats, Jack-o’-lanterns and bug-eyed bats...all those spooky shapes need to be turned into sweet treats. I always prefer to tone down the “creepy” and pump up the deliciousness. So that’s what I did.

When you’re a small child, dressing up for Halloween is so exciting. You get to hide in plain sight. Before putting on the costume, you’re just you, but after putting it on you’re Cinderella or Spiderman, or a pirate or a bumblebee. Come to think of it, cutout cookies are like that in a way. They regularly take on a new identify the minute you dip them in glaze or pipe on a coat of royal icing. The more embellishments you add, the better the “cover up.” Hooray for the cookie in disguise!

The elaborate designs for el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) has always intrigued me. So I decided to decorate my Halloween cookies to celebrate this age-old Mexican tradition of honoring the dead. The intricate swirls and colorful flowers that make up the designs for el Día de los Muertos are ideal decorations for cookies...the perfect pairing of the symbols for life and death.

The best thing about Halloween is that it means the beginning of the holiday baking season. And although Halloween is not my favorite holiday, making Halloween cookies is a lot of fun. Ghosts and Jack o’Lanterns, cats and ghosts...what great shapes.