Witch fingers

Hello my little pumpkins!

Today, I want to share a scary recipe with you! Witch fingers... I love them! And the kids loved them too.

Young and old alike will love decorating these disgusting fingers!

Let's get started!

To make 35 fingers, you will need:

Cookie dough

- 125gr softened butter

- 75gr icing sugar

- 30gr egg

- 2 tsp speculoos flavouring

- 2 pinches of salt

- 225gr flour

- Light green gel food colouring

Decoration

- Royal icing from Funcakes

- Gel food colourings

- 3 piping bags of 30 cm

- 3 small piping bag adapters

- 3 nozzles of 1.5 mm

- 3 elastic bands for piping bags

- Icing bottle

- Halloween sugar decorations

- Halloween nonpareils

- Iridescent red icing

Cookie dough

In a bowl, pour 125gr of softened butter and 75gr of icing sugar.

Mix with the K beater until you get a creamy texture.

Then add 30gr of egg. Personally, I cracked an egg, lightly beat it with a fork and weighed out the 30gr I needed.

Do not add a whole egg! Your cookies would rise too much during baking.

Now add 2 tsp of speculoos flavouring. If you prefer, you can use vanilla, cappuccino flavouring... according to your taste!

Use measuring spoons to add the speculoos flavouring precisely.

Then add 2 pinches of salt and mix everything with the K beater, just for a few seconds.

Once the ingredients are mixed, add 225gr of flour.

ATTENTION! Mix as little as possible! The more you mix, the more the gluten will develop during baking! And we want cookies that don't rise at all!

Finish mixing by hand to form a ball with the dough.

Our dough is ready! I suggest colouring part of your cookie dough green so we have real witch fingers! ;o)

Divide your cookie dough in two (approx. 2x 220gr) and colour one half light green.

There we go! Our two doughs are ready!

We used to carry the witch finger mould, but unfortunately this item was discontinued by our supplier and is no longer available. If you have one at home, you can absolutely use it.

For those who don't have the famous mould, I'll show you how to make witch fingers by hand. It's very easy! :o)

Using a scale, weigh out small portions of 12gr of dough.

Start by rolling a ball between your hands.

Then shape a log about 8 cm long.

As in the first photo below, taper one end of the log to form a pointed witch's nail.

Then form the knuckles by pressing with your fingers while rolling the log in the centre of your hand.

Using a knife, mark the small finger creases.

Place the fingers on a perforated baking tray lined with a perforated mat, which will ensure even baking of the cookies.

Place them in the freezer for 30 minutes, this will help the cookies keep their shape during baking.

Preheat your oven to 135°C, fan-assisted.

Do the same with the green-coloured dough. Also place the green fingers in the freezer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes in the freezer, bake all the fingers for 20 minutes in the middle of the preheated oven.

There we go, our fingers are baked – let them cool to room temperature before decorating.

Decoration

I had never tried this royal icing from Funcakes before. Usually I make it from scratch, but I have to admit this mix is great! Really easy to work with. :o)

We'll start by making our royal icing.

For decorating our little fingers, we don't need a huge amount of icing.

So I made the following mix: 150gr of royal icing powder to 19gr of water.

Mix the two ingredients with a whisk.

ATTENTION, at the minimum speed! We don't want a meringue, but a royal icing. So I mix at the lowest speed just until the two ingredients are combined.

You will get the base royal icing. You'll notice it's quite firm and that's normal!

Once you have your royal icing, you need to colour and thin it.

I separated my royal icing into 3 different bowls.

For these witch fingers, I wanted to stick to Halloween colours. So I used the following colours: purple, black and orange.

Of course, you can add the colours of your choice. :o)

Once the royal icing is coloured, we'll add water. Your icing should flow in a ribbon, meaning it should be fairly liquid but not too runny either.

To add water, I use my icing bottle. I find it very handy as it allows me to control the amount of water I add.

Your icing will become shiny. You'll notice that when you lift the spoon (quite high), the icing will flow in a ribbon (evenly), but it won't be 100% liquid either. It will leave a mark when it falls back into the bowl. That's the texture we want! :o)

Depending on the food colouring you use, the heat and humidity in your home, you will need to add more or less water. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an exact weight.

There we go! The icings are ready to use. You need to pour them fairly quickly into a piping bag so they don't dry out. The quantities are small, but don't worry, you'll have more than enough to decorate your witch fingers.

For decorating cookies with royal icing, I recommend a piping bag of max. 30 cm, a small piping bag adapter, a round 1.5 mm nozzle and elastic bands to close my piping bag.

The 1.5 mm nozzle is the simplest nozzle for decorating. A 1 mm nozzle could also work for tiny details, but it's not always easy to use as the icing tends to dry quickly inside.

Place the adapter in the piping bag, then cut the tip of the bag and place the nozzle on the adapter.

Secure the nozzle using the second part that screws onto the adapter part inside the piping bag.

Fill 3 piping bags with each colour of royal icing.

I always use elastic bands to close my piping bags when working with royal icing, as you need to be very precise in your movements and these elastic bands are virtually invisible to your hands.

Remember to cover the tip of your nozzles with a damp cloth (when not in use) so the icing doesn't dry out in the nozzle. This way, you'll have all the time you need to decorate without having to constantly use a toothpick to unblock the nozzle... ;o)

For an even bloodier effect, add a little iridescent red icing to your witch fingers! Effect guaranteed!

I also used the "Halloween" sugar decorations and the "Halloween" nonpareils.

Let your imagination run wild! Purple nails with a little glitter or perhaps orange nails with sugar on top? Anything is possible with our Halloween sugars! :o)

Here are a few decoration ideas: a little blood, an orange nail, a small skull sugar decoration and you're done. :-p

For a terrifying green finger: a little blood, a black nail, a ring with a little sugar bone...

In short, have fun! :-D

These cookies will keep for one week in a well-sealed box.

I wish you a wonderful Halloween and lots of fun with your children and friends!

Karin

P.S.: All the materials used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.