Halloween Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Keeping halloween sweet instead of scary with the most cheerful Halloween Chocolate Shortbread Cookies.  

Celebrating October 1st with the sweetest and not so scary Ghost Chocolate Shortbread Cookies!  

Chocolate Shortbread Dough is so buttery, not overly sweet and has the perfect amount of chocolate flavor.  I love everything about this recipe and the variety of things that can be made with it.  Chocolate Shortbread makes the most adorable iced cookies that can be cut into any shape and size, decorated with royal icing and served to kids or adults.  This dough can also be used for a chocolate pie dough or mini tea cookies!  

Royal Icing is a combination of pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar that creates a perfectly smooth glaze for the Chocolate Shortbread Cookies.  These pastel and cheerful ghost cookies are finished with light lime green, lilac, light orange and soft pink royal icing.  Royal Icing dries to have a hard surface to the touch but still soft and decadent when you bite into them.  This allows the cookies to be packaged for a perfect halloween treat!  

Halloween Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

• Author: Kristen Massad

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• Chocolate Shortbread Cookie
• 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Cups Unsalted Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1 Vanilla Bean or 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
• 3 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
• ½ Cup Cocoa Powder
• Royal Icing
• 6 Cups Powdered Sugar
• 3 Eggs Whites, Pasteurized (add more or less eggs to adjust consistency)
• ½ tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Shortbread Cookies
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare sheet pans with parchment paper
3. Cream sugar and butter in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment
4. Add eggs and vanilla bean; mix on low speed until egg is fully incorporated
5. Slowly add in the flour and mix until dough comes together into a ball
6. Place dough on a floured surface and gently knead until smooth
7. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes
8. Once the dough is chilled, roll out into ⅛” thick and cut into desired shape
9. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes
10. Allow the cookies to cool before glazing and decorating
11. Royal Icing
12. Combine powdered sugar, egg whites and vanilla in a mixing bowl with paddle attachment and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes or until icing is smooth
13. Divide the icing into 4 bowls
14. Mix one bowl with light lime green food coloring
15. Mix one bowl with light lilac food coloring
16. Mix one bowl with light orange food coloring
17. Mix one bowl with soft pink food coloring
18. Using the base color, fill a pastry bag and pipe the icing around the perimeter of the cookie; allow this outline to dry for a few minutes
19. Using the same color as the outline, pipe the royal icing to cover the top of the cookie
20. Allow the icing to dry for 10 minutes
21. Add a small amount of icing to a bowl and add a few drops of black food color
22. Fill a pastry bag with the black royal icing and pipe two eyes and a ghost like mouth
23. Allow the cookies to dry before serving or dry overnight to place in cellophane bags and use as party favors!