Halloween Cookies

These are the cookies my youngest daughter and I made on the weekend. We had alot of fun making them. She helped in the making of the dough, not very patiently waiting for it to be ready in the fridge, cut them out and monitored them while baking. I did the decorating and she watched. I offered her to decorate some but she wanted me to do it this time so she could watch and learn. The recipe has been in my family for generations. We make them on special occasions like Christmas. All my cookie cutters are Christmas themed. I need to acquire some other ones so I can make them at other times of the year. My Mom has a better selection so I used her cutters.

Grandmothers Sugar Cookies
Combine in a large bowl
3 c sifted flour and 1 cup of shortening. Mix together with a pastry blender.
In another bowl mix 2 eggs slightly beaten and 1 cup of sugar. Beat until light. Add 3 tbsp milk, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix until well blended. Add to flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Chill in fridge for 1-2 hours. Overnight is good also. Roll out a section a a time to 1/4 inch thick. The surface you roll on and the rolling pin needs to be lightly floured.  Cut with a floured cutter. Return unused portions to fridge until ready to roll out. Bake at 375 for 8-10 min until the bottoms are lightly golden. Cool before icing.

Sugar Cookie Frosting
4 c icing sugar
1/2 c shortening
5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix together well.
Divide and colour as needed.
I used a knife to spread it on the cookies. I smoothed it out by dipping my knife in hot water and spreading over cookies to get lines out. Keep dipping it in hot water and scrape excess frosting on knife on the side of the cup of hot water. I then used an icing bag and tip to add the coloured frosting on top of the cookies.

This made 6 ghosts and 6 pumpkins. My Mom usually doubles the recipe but I didn't have enough Crisco to double it. I also used half crisco and half butter for the icing as I ran out of crisco and it still turned out great. The sad thing was the cookies were gone by the next day and I only got to eat half of one. :(
And that is why treats like this are a rare occurrance in his house.