Decorated Halloween Sugar Cookies

An orange cookie with the word boo in black icing.

4.67 from 3 votes

Decorated Halloween Sugar Cookies

These sugar cookies are perfect for Halloween when they're decorated with royal icing and turned into ghosts, zombie bunnies, boo squares and pumpkins.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Chill30

Total Time1 10

Course: cookie

Cuisine: Canadian

Servings: depending on cutter

Calories: 159kcal

Author: Jacqueline Piper

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Cookies

1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract optional
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt

For the Royal Icing with Meringue Powder

½ cup meringue powder
1 cup water less about a tablespoon or so
2 lbs powdered sugar

Royal Icing with Egg Whites

6 egg whites
2 lb powdered sugar sifted

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the Cookies

Make the dough: Cream together the butter and sugar. I use a stand mixer.
Add the egg and extracts to the mixing bowl and mix.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate small bowl and then add that to the mixing bowl. Mix to combine.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes before rolling and cutting.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line 1-2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Sprinkle minimal flour on the counter and on top of the dough. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a quarter-inch thick or so. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes.
The dough can be re-rolled so that you can cut more shapes.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet, leaving space in between. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked and the bottom or edges begin to turn lightly golden.
Let cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For the Royal Icing with Meringue Powder

Using a stand mixer, mix together the meringue powder and water.
Add powdered sugar and mix slowly until incorporated and then on high until stiff peaks are achieved, 5 minutes or so.
Plan your cookie designs and then color the cicing with gel food coloring.
Keep some icing at this thicker consistency for piping. (Piping consistency). Add a small splash of water at a time and stir to thin out the rest of the icing for flooding or filling the cookies (Flooding consistency.)
Decorate the cookies: Use the piping consistency icing in a piping bag with a small tip to pipe lines on the outside of your cookies. Use the flooding consistency icing to fill the insides of the cookies with the same color. I use plastic squeeze bottles for this.
Let the cookies dry. Cookies with dried icing can be stacked for storing or gifting.

For Royal Icing with Egg Whites

Whip the egg whites on medium speed in a stand mixer, just until frothy. This takes a minute or two.
Add 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and mix well, scraping sides down as needed.
Gradually add the rest of the sugar while mixing, stopping to scrape the sides down as needed.
Once all of the sugar is incorporated, whip on high speed for 5 minutes, until thick and glossy.
To store, press plastic wrap into the surface of the icing before storing it in the fridge. Bring the icing to room temperature before using.

Notes

Choose either icing, not both.

Nutrition information is for the cookies only, not including icing.

Nutrition