Halloween Is Tomorrow, Time To Make Some Bloody Fingers!

Yeah, that's right. Tomorrow is my favourite day of the year. The day when all the ghouls and ghosts come out. Maybe some kids, too. At least they might if this storm eases up. Right now the wind is pounding the house with a hard-driven rain. An hour ago it picked up a plastic lawn chair and threw it from one side of the back deck 40 feet to the other side just missing the kitchen window. We're just feeling lucky though because we aren't getting snow and because we've still got our power on. So with a nice pot roast cooking away in the oven I thought maybe I could share my Witch's Finger cookie recipe with you.

Those are the Witch Finger Cookies under the dome of my cake plate.

Witch’s Fingers
(adapted from a recipe in Canadian Living magazine)
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1.5 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 ¾ cup flour
1 cup almond, whole and blanched
1 tube red cake gel
7 or 8 drops green food colouring


Preparation:
In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, vanilla and the green food colouring; beat in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remaining dough refrigerated, roll into a long snake of dough and then cut into 3 or 4 inch pieces. Squeeze the pieces just enough to form the knuckles of the finger shape for each cookie. Using a fork, press the back of the tines lightly onto the top of the knuckle to simulate natural creases. Press almond firmly into end for nail.
Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325°F (160°C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for 3 minutes. Lift up almond; squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back into place, so gel oozes out from underneath. Remove from baking sheets; let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
Makes 3 or 4 dozen creepy and delicious cookies (the number will vary depending on how big you make them)
I usually pass these out to the adults who accompany their kiddies to the door if I can keep Hubby from eating them all! I hope you have time to make some, they’re worth the effort!

Never let a witch play with your hammer, they always seem to manage to hit their poor fingernails.

Here is this year’s crew warming up in the garage before their debuts tomorrow.

You would never believe just how bad it is outside today after seeing how nice it was yesterday.