Organ Cookies

Hello everyone, welcome back to another creepy Halloween recipe. These cookies are almond and vanilla buttery flavored goodness that are shaped into creepy realistic organs. To make these design you will need organ cookie cutters. I personally got mine from ‘Bakerology’. There are a few other brands that do similar designs at different prices. Make sure you look carefully to try and work out the quality of the cookie cutters. A poorly made cookie cutter will really affect the overall design of the cookies.   If you are making these cookies in summer and it is very hot outside the dough may become difficult to deal with. I found the best way to deal with this was:

• Portion the dough into smaller sections. Instead of having the whole dough out I would only work with one small bit at a time and leave the others in the fridge.
• I placed ice packs on the bench where I was rolling out the dough. It helped the dough stay colder for longer.
• If I needed to create a cut out in the middle of the dough, I would place the cookies on the tray back in the fridge to cool down and harden slightly. It made it so much easier to cut out the centers.

The recipe you see is entirely lactose free, providing you use the right products of course.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Category: Cookies, Halloween

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Margarine (Lactose free) (Brand used - Nuttelex Original)
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp Almond essence
• 2 & 1/4 cup Plain flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• Organ cookie cutters (heart, brain, lungs, intestines, stomach and liver) (Brand used – Bakerology )

Instructions

1. Beat the margarine and sugar in a large bowl until creamy.
2. Add the egg, almond and vanilla extract. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Slowly add the flour mix into the butter mixture until it forms a soft dough.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and chill in the fridge for an hour. (You can keep it the fridge overnight and even freeze the dough to be used later)
6. When the dough has been chilled preheat the oven to 170c (350f). Line a tray with baking paper.
7. Place some plain flour in a dish. Start with one cookie cutter and dip the cookie cutter in the flour so all the grooves and sides are covered. Shake off the excess.
8. Divide the dough in half. Wrap one half and put it back in the fridge.
9. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough flat and cut with a lightly floured organ cookie cutter. Press down so the dough will get indented properly. If it doesn’t look right simply roll into a ball and try it over again.
10. Transfer the cookies onto the tray. Continue this until all the dough has been used up. Make sure to leave a gap in between the cookies.
11. Bake the cookies for around 12 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness. They should be just starting to brown.
12. Move the cookies to a wire rack and leave to cool down. You can ice them if you would like, I preferred to leave them plain.
13. Serve, devour and enjoy.