Witch Finger Cookies

Yeah, yeah, I know...Nanette doesn't do Halloween. Blame it on being a senior in an Adult Community...reliving my childhood. I posted a recipe for Green Monster Cookies a few days ago because I was bringing treats to the Divas Halloween Party. Friday night was the Community Halloween Party and I was asked to bake Crooked Witch Fingers. At first, I thought it was for the dessert table, but found out they were props for the Haunted House. The Victoria Gardens Haunted House is one of the best I've ever experienced. Kudos to Shari who spends hours researching, building, directing to make this a yearly success. Yes, she has lots of help and dozens of volunteer horror characters, but she is the force behind the whole event. Girl Power. My contribution to this year's Haunted House were the Witch Fingers. I didn't actually see the ghoul chomping on them because I was too busy screaming and covering my eyes!

Back to the cookie....The dough is a bit finicky. Once the ingredients are combined, you must refrigerate it. I made the dough, wrapped it in plastic wrap and chilled for most of the day, baking the fingers in the evening. Cut off a chunk, then rewrap and put in the freezer as you shape the fingers. Once in the oven, rotate the trays after 10 minutes. Don't let the fingers get too brown. The recipe should yield 60 but I got 55 out of it.

Witch Fingers
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
55-60 whole almonds
1 (.75oz) tube red decorating gel

Combine flour, baking powder, & salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter, sugar, egg, almond & vanilla extracts in a mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer and gradually add the dry ingredients as you continue to blend. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour.  
Set oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Remove a small amount of dough from the dough ball. Replace remaining dough in refrigerator or freezer. Roll dough into thin rope shapes. Press almond into the tip. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each finger to give the impression of knuckles.  Make slashes into the dough at knuckles. Arrange on lightly greased cookie sheets. Put cookie sheet in refrigerator for ten minutes to help retain shape when baking. Bake 20-25 minutes, rotating at ten minutes. Before fingers cool completely, remove the almond from end of finger and squeeze a small amount of red gel into cavity. Replace the almond to ooze gel out around the tip. Add red gel anywhere on finger for a "bloodier" look, if desired. 
originally found on allrecipes.com under Spooky Witches' Fingers

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