Halloween is one of the oldest holidays in the world. Few people are aware that its roots date back to Samhain, the ancient Gaelic harvest festival celebrated in Celtic countries, such as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. It was believed that spirits from the underworld and ghosts of dead people could visit the world of the living on the night of October 31st. These spirits could harm the living or take them back to the underworld. To avoid this, people started dressing up as ghosts and spirits, if they left their homes, to confuse the underworld spirits. Bonfires and food played a big part in the festivities.
Over the years, Samhain became merged with the later Christian holidays of All Saint’s Day on November 1st and All Soul’s Day on November 2nd. This explains our modern holiday’s focus on spirits and the dead.
Halloween traditions were brought to America by the Irish and Scottish immigrants. Through time other traditions have blended into Halloween for example the harvest time tradition of craving pumpkins.
Brion and I live in a ‘young’ neighborhood. We’ve been very fortunate to have great neighbors on either side of us. One family has two boys and the other side has two girls. It is fun to make something special just for ‘our’ little people. This year, I’m making some Halloween cookies for their treat. My choices are SPIDER WEB & 3-D PUMPKIN cookies! Hope they will like them.
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Dozen
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Ingredients
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- For each 3-D pumpkin you'll need: (2) Orange scalloped or plain circle cookies 1 7/8" diameter. (2) Orange scalloped or plain cookies 2 1/4" diameter with a 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" circle cutout. (1) Green scalloped circle 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" diameter with a hole cutout in the center using a straw. (1) Green stem, made from rolling a small amount of green dough into a 'snake', & cutting it into pieces about 3/4" long, then bake. Feel free to adjust the sizes a bit based on the cutters you have, or the finished size you desire.
- Place chilled orange colored dough on a LIGHTLY floured work surface. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of dough. This helps to roll out the dough without adding additional flour. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 of an inch thick. Cut out pumpkin pieces ( 4 per cookie ). Place cookies on prepared baking sheet, topped with either silicone liners or parchment paper. Remove green colored dough from refrigerator; roll as above, cut lid circles & stems ( 1 each per cookie ). Make sure to only put cookie pieces of similar size on the same baking sheet to ensure even baking. Place entire baking sheet (with cookies on it) in the freezer or refrigerator for about 3-5 minutes. This will help them to keep their shape while baking. Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Bake cookies for 5-6 minutes depending on their size. Bake ONLY until they are just barely beginning to take on a golden tone. After a minute or so, remove cookies from baking sheet to cooling rack. Once cooled, you are ready to assemble the pumpkins.
- Starting with one of the solid circles & one cutout circle. Add a line of your 'cookie icing' onto the solid circle, then place cookie 'ring' on top.
- Add a line of cookie icing onto the first cookie 'ring'. Add the second cookie 'ring'. The base of your pumpkin is now complete.
- Assemble the pumpkin top by first attaching the small green stem to the green circle (using a bit of cookie icing). Then add a line of icing onto the bottom of the green circle, & place the green circle on top of a solid orange circle.
- Allow the pumpkin top & pumpkin base to dry completely for at least 1-2 hours. Fill pumpkin cavity with mini M&M candies. Arrange on serving dish with tops.
Royal Icing
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 tsp orange extract
- orange gel food color
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- With an electric mixer, whip egg white, extract & color until frothy. Slowly beat in powdered sugar, a little at a time, until mixture is thick but still liquid enough to beat. Beat on high until the mixture becomes thick & glossy, about 3 minutes. Cover the surface with plastic wrap while waiting to use it.
- Royal Icing will set to a firm, glossy finish when applied to cookie. This icing can be stored , tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.