Happy Halloween to those who celebrate! This recipe is great to serve to guests or as a fun activity for a Halloween night in.

Ingredients

• For the cookies:
• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 tsp vanilla + ½ tsp almond extract)
• For decoration:
• Royal icing or store-bought white icing
• Food coloring (orange, black, purple, green)
• Sprinkles, candy eyes, or edible glitter (optional)

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients
In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Combine wet ingredients
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2–3 minutes). Then, mix in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined.

3. Mix dry and wet ingredients
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture until dough forms. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes. *While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F  and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Roll and cut the dough
Roll dough to about ¼ inch thick. Use Halloween cookie cutters (pumpkins, ghosts, bats, cats) to shape into cookies.

5. Bake and cool
Bake 8–10 minutes or until edges are just golden. Cool completely before decorating.

6. Decorate!
Now for the fun part! Divide icing into bowls and tint with food coloring. Pipe or spread on cookies to make spooky designs. Some ideas are: spiders, ghosts, skeletons, pumpkins, or bats. Enjoy the process, then enjoy your treat!