Naturally green witches fingers
What’s spookier than a plate full knobbly, green witches fingers?
Perfect for Halloween parties or baking with kids, these witch finger cookies are quick and easy to make.
And you might be surprised at how much you love eating them because they taste amazing!
Servings 22 witch finger cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened (170 grams)
- 3/4 cup icing sugar (100 grams)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups plain flour (270 grams)
- 1 tablespoon ground almonds (optional)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt (if using slightly salted butter then add no extra salt)
- 1½ teaspoons spirulina powder
- 22 almonds blanched (or whole)
- 1 tablespoon strawberry jam
Instructions
For the cookie dough
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (or 430°F).
- Beat the softened butter and icing sugar together until it thickens. You can do this by hand with a whisk or with a handheld blender. Take care not to overbeat it and stop when it starts to thicken.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.
- Add in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt and spirulina. Mix together until it forms a firm, sticky dough. You may have to use your hands to knead it towards the end, to make sure the spirulina is well distributed.
- Remove from the mixer or bowl, wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. It can stay in overnight if you prefer.
To form the witches fingers
- When you’re ready to bake remove the dough from the fridge, tear off a small piece and roll it into a ball with your hands. It should be about half the size of a ping pong ball.
- Roll and squeeze it for a minute to make it smooth. Then roll it out into a cylinder about 8-10cm long and 1 cm wide. Make your fingers small as they will expand when cooked.
- Try to keep one end a little narrower for the finger tip. Lay each long thin cylinder on a non-stick baking tray or on greaseproof paper in an oven dish.
- Firmly press down with two thumbs, at two places along the length of the finger.
- In the area between and around the thumbprints, take a smooth, sharp knife and make three parallel slits close to one another for the wrinkles. Do this in 3 places on the finger.
- Squeeze the area that you have just imprinted your thumb in together firmly to make the finger ‘knobbly’ and to give it knuckles. Make them VERY knobbly, as they will flatten out a little in the oven.
- Finally, take a blanched almond and push it into the ‘end’ of your finger firmly, until the dough overlaps and comes over the top of it a little.
- Then smooth out the finger tips to make them narrow again.
- Cover your tray of witch finger cookies with foil and place on the middle shelf of the oven to bake for 15 minutes. They should be cooked through but not browned by the end.
- When they’ve cooled a little, remove the almond from the finger tip and carefully brush on some strawberry jam underneath it. Then return the almond to its position and press it down firmly so the strawberry jam squeezes out the sides. Enjoy your gory Halloween treat!