Halloween treat: Witch fingers cookies

This is the first cookie in my entire life that gave me some hesitation before bite into it. These “treat” are perfect for not find yourself  in a “trick” of the sweet little monsters that certainly will play at your door on October 31. It will undoubtedly be an original surprise that will blow the mind of your children, whether they are grandchildren, children or friends of small size. I still carry in my heart the first, and only one, “Trick or treat”, dates back to the fourth grade – and the time to say that they are have already past twenty years has arrived, literally. My English teacher was obsessed with this festivity and I think he started to talk about it since the first day of school. I loved him when he organized a theme party in the town square, there were a steaming pot with a thousand sweets, children dressed as ghosts and witches, there was happiness and a bit of healthy Amercan Wannabe … And all this to wish you: Happy Halloween!

Ingredients (for about twenty fingers – which, as said, is quite disturbing)

• 100 gr. of butter
• 100 gr. of white sugar (or powdered, if you want a consistency less “rustic”)
• 280 gr. of flour
• One whole egg
• A teaspoon of baking powder
• The zest of an orange or lemon
• 20 blanched almonds

Process

Start with working together the pieces of cold butter with baking powder and flour. This is the first step to getting the classic shortcrust pastry, but you can easily obtain the same results with the aid of a food processor, just putting together all the ingredients and operate them for a few seconds until they will have formed, in fact, a kind of “sand” consistence. But I would not trade for anything in the world the feeling of hands-on, perhaps with the company of your children.

Now you can add to the must and flour and butter: the egg – mixing it slightly – sugar and salt. Mix everything first with a fork (otherwise you’ll have already in your hands the fingers of witch) and then begin to knead by hand until you get the classic “smooth and homogenous” dough quoted in all self-respecting shortcrust pastry recipe.

Put the dough in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes and then you can work it. Divide the ball of dough in two parts, form two sausages and divide in turn into 10 pieces each thereby obtaining a total of 20 pieces more or less of the same size. With these pieces create some small balls which in turn transform into small cylinders to which you will give the shape of fingers. I state that you will surprise as they may seem realistic with the addition of a few lines of knife as knuckle and almond as nail! Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, on wax paper.