Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

Green food coloring gel, as needed

Sliced almond pieces for the nails

Red strawberry jam and red gel color, as needed to decorate

Directions:

Place eggs, vanilla, oil and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with dough hook.

Mix on low until well blended.

Add flour and baking powder, a little at a time while continuing to mix.

When a smooth dough is achieved, add a couple of drops of green gel.

Mix well.

If needed, add more green gel until desired color is achieved.

Note: as always, feel your dough! It should be like play-dough. If it’s not, adjust accordingly by putting a little more flour if too wet or a little milk if too dry.

Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface.

Knead by hand to form a log.

Cover with film and rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Also, pick the best sliced almond pieces from the bag.

When dough is ready, cut log into equal slices, according to the size of the finger you choose to make. 

Roll each slice into a long thin log to look like a finger.

Place one sliced almond piece at one end for the nails.

Press gently to adhere but not so hard that it breaks.

With the back of a knife, make 3 indentations about 1/2 “ below the “nail”.

Make 3 more indentations about 1 “ below first indentations.

Place fingers on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake in hot oven for 20 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool before the next step.

Mix 2 TBSPs strawberry jam with a drop or two of red gel food coloring to make it look like blood.

Dip a clean craft paint brush in the red jam.

Trace the borders of the nails with the red jam.

Finally, dip the ends of the fingers in the red jam for an added level of gore.

Serve on a platter with plastic spiders or other spooky decorations.

Makes about two dozen regular-sized fingers or 15 large ones.

TIPS:

Please read entire recipe before executing. The best tip I could ever give you is the one about feeling your dough. Egg sizes are never accurate so dough could turn out more dry or more wet than needed. Adjust as needed to achieve consistency of play-dough.

Get creative with these cookies. Use jam with black gel for spooky color around the nails.

If you want to leave the color of the dough natural, don’t use any green gel and use an entire almond (with skin) for the nails.