Jack-O'-Lantern Cookies
Nothing makes one think of Halloween more than Jack-O'-Lanterns. These deliciously buttery sugar cookies are filled with decadent dark chocolate spread. Use any chocolate spread you wish but since I was making these for an adult palette, the newly released Lindt dark chocolate cocoa spread was the perfect choice.
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Ingredients
- 250 grams Unsalted Butter Softened to room temperature
- ¾ Cup Castor or granulated sugar
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Egg
- 3 Cups All-Purpose/Cake Flour
- ¾ tsp Baking Soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- Pinch of salt
- Orange (gel) food colouring Optional
- 200 grams Chocolate spread I used Lindt dark chocolate cocoa spread, but you can use Nutella or any other chocolate spread of your choice
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy
- Add the egg and mix until combined
- Then begin to add the food colouring (if using) a couple of drops at a time and mix. Add more until the desired colour is reached, mixing in between
- Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until just barely combined. Add a drop or two more food colouring if the colour has lightened
- Generously flour your work surface and divide the dough in half. Flatten each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for around 10 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two baking sheets with baking paper or a silicone baking mat
- Remove one disc from the fridge and place on a well floured surface. Roll to around just under ½cm thick and cut out the pumpkin shapes with your cookie cutter. Place on a lined baking sheet allowing some space between each cookie. Place in the freezer for 15 - 20 minutes before baking*
- Remove from the freezer and bake for 12 - 15 minutes
- In the meantime, roll out the second disc and cut out the cookies. Cut eyes and mouths into these if you wish to form the tops of the cookies for the jack-o'-lantern faces. Once cut, place in the freezer for 15 - 20 minutes before baking*
- When the first batch is baked, remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheet to cool for around 5 minutes. Then move to a wire cooling rack to cool completely
- Remove the second batch of cut cookies from the freezer and bake the next batch for 12 - 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheet to cool for around 5 minutes. Then move to a wire cooling rack to cool completely
- Repeat the above steps with the remaining dough, ensuring that you have equal numbers of tops and bottoms (Remember to place dough in the fridge while not in use or it will become to soft to roll or cut, and freeze for a few minutes before baking)
- Once the cookies are completely cooled, match up the tops and bottoms of equal sizes
- Depending on the size of your cookies, spoon around ½ to ⅔ of a teaspoon of chocolate spread onto the bottom cookies (do not spread all the way to the edges), place the top cookies/faces on the bottoms and gently press together the help the chocolate spread to the edges
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container
Notes
As this dough is filled with butter, keeping it chilled while not in use, especially on warm days, ensures that it doesn't become too soft to roll and cut.
*Freezing the cut out dough before baking reduces the amount of spread while baking. This is especially important for sandwich cookies as you want the sizes to match up so you want to prevent them from spreading too much
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