Old-Fashioned Jack-o-Lantern Sugar Cookies
Halloween night was nothing less than totally magical in my small hometown in Wyoming. As a kid, I received lots of fun treats from my neighbors who knew my siblings and me since the day we were born. My Nana always gave us a homemade caramel apple. One family always gave king-sized candy bars, and another family down the road gave out homemade popcorn balls. But there was one house that was always lined with kids, waiting their turn to receive their traditional homemade sugar cookie. That was the home of a sweet, old lady named Martha Hubbard. Martha likely spent weeks leading up to Halloween night making sugar cookies and wrapping each one in saran wrap for expectant little ghouls and goblins. I’m pretty sure people started coming from the city 25 miles away just to get a cookie from her, once the word spread around. This Halloween, my cousin unearthed Martha’s old recipe, written in her own handwriting. I tried my best to duplicate this treasured treat, and I added some more descriptive notes in order to make this recipe fail-proof. My plan was to give them out to our trick-or-treaters here in Utah, but my family out-voted the idea. Instead, I volunteered to make them for my kid’s school parties. It was quite the production! Next year I will be recruiting more help, but these cookies are pretty delicious! Enjoy!
Old-Fashioned Jack-o-Lantern Sugar Cookie
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 cups all-purpose flour sifted
Toppings
- 60 pieces candy corn
- 5 pieces black licorice sliced thin
Instructions
- Cream together sugar and butter. Add egg and extracts and mix until smooth throughout.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together baking powder and flour. Gradually mix into creamed mixture, 1 cup at a time, until a large dough ball forms.
- Cut the dough ball in half. Pat out to about 1/4 inch thick with fingers or a rolling pin.
- Cut out the cookies into a 4-inch diameter circle.
- Place three candy corns for the jack-o-lantern eyes and nose. Place a very thin strip of black licorice into the smile.
- Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until the edges are barely brown. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes before removing and putting on a rack to cool.
- Once cookies have completely cooled, wrap individually in saran wrap or cookie bags.
Notes
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