Halloween Sugar Stamp Cookies

Sugar Cookies are good any time of the year, and Halloween is no exception! A perfect treat for anyone; Halloween Sugar Stamp Cookies are buttery and sugary and delightfully bright and vibrant to match the season! Bring some to the office to share, or bag them up for your trick-or-treaters!

My daughter loves Halloween.  In fact, she has often said that she loves Halloween more than she loves Christmas.  Clearly, I’m not the father, or I have gone terribly wrong somewhere in raising her the way a child should be raised! Either way, these Halloween Sugar Stamp Cookies are for her!

I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with Halloween or the celebrating of it, but she comes from a long line of hardcore Christmas enthusiasts.  It’s in her blood!  But, no matter how much I try to argue that Christmas is better, I can’t disagree with how happy these Halloween Sugar Stamp Cookies make me feel.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Flour – I have not tested this recipe with anything other than all-purpose flour.
• Butter – If you do not have salted butter, you can use unsalted butter, but add 1/4 teaspoon of salt when you add the flour.
• Confectioner’s Sugar – This adds just the right amount of sweetness.
• Food Colouring

HOW TO MAKE HALLOWEEN SUGAR STAMP COOKIES

In a large bowl, beat to combine the butter, sugar, and food colouring until well blended. Add the flour and blend into the butter until just incorporated.  Do not over-mix! Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a silicone mat or parchment paper.  Set aside. Dust a flat surface, such as your countertop, with flour and roll the chilled dough out with a rolling pin to 1/4 inch thick. Dust the cookie stamp by pressing the stamp end gently into the flour.  Tap the stamp gently on the countertop to get rid of the excess flour.

Holding the stamp as straight as possible, press the stamp into the dough just slightly to make the indent.  (This might take a time or two to practice how hard you need to press to get a deep enough indent.) Next, set the stamp aside, and use a round cookie cutter to cut around the stamped dough. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet using a flat, slotted, metal spatula.  Leave 2 inches between each cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven promptly and allow cookies to rest for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Re-roll the leftover dough, and bake the next batch.  

GEL FOOD COLOURING WORKS BEST

Aren’t they just beautiful?  Honestly, Dear Reader, whenever I get to play with food colouring dye, I’m at my happiest.  Sure, it’s messy, and no matter how careful I am, I’ll always get a gob of the colouring gel on my hands, on a tea towel, or even on our white kitchen countertop!  (Those Magic Erasers work wonders!)

I will often make sugar cookies at Christmastime, in fact, they are on my list of cookies to make in the coming months.  What?  You don’t have a Christmas cookie list?  Well then, I guess I shouldn’t tell you about my Christmas Excel Spreadsheets!  (I’m so not kidding!)

SILICONE COOKIE STAMPS

The inspiration for these Halloween Sugar Stamp Cookies came out of a recent jaunt to one of my favourite past-time stores.  Here in Canada, that store is called HomeSense.  In the United States, it’s the same type of store, but it’s called HomeGoods.  Winners and Marshalls will also stock what I’m about to talk about.

Have you heard of cookie stamps?  Well, if you haven’t, you should try to find some at one of the stores I mentioned above, and turn the common sugar cookie into a work of art!

If you can’t find them in a store, just do a search on Amazon for cookie stamps.  You can find them in almost any design or pattern.  I have quite a collection of Halloween cookie stamps, but I also have a number of Christmas cookie stamps as well.

By the way, when I did a quick search on Amazon, I found Game of Thrones cookie stamps.  I need those in my life!  Now, I can’t speak for all cookie stamps, but the Birkmann brand – the ones with the wooden handle and washable silicone stamp, work extremely well!

I found a set of three at HomeSense, and those are the stamps I used in the cookies you see here.  You can see the actual stamp in one of the photographs as well.  A day or two later, John.e was at Winners or HomeSense near his office and found a miniature set.

The cool thing about the miniature stamps was that there was only one handle and six different silicone stamps.  Easier for storage, for sure!  All of the cookie stamps I currently have each come with a wooden handle, which can make storage a little bulky.

DO I NEED A COOKIE STAMP TO MAKE THESE?

No, indeed you do not! If you don’t have any cookie stamps at home, you can just roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds or any shape you want for that matter.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of cookies that have been rolled out using a patterned rolling pin. If you don’t have a cookie stamp but have one of those rolling pins, it would work well for this cookie too.

HOW TO PREVENT THE COOKIE DOUGH FROM STICKING TO THE STAMP

When making Halloween Sugar Stamp Cookies, be sure to follow the directions carefully.  It’s important to lightly dust your stamp with confectioner’s sugar and tap off the excess before stamping the dough.  It’s also very important to chill the dough.

You can use flour if you don’t have confectioner’s sugar. But, the flour will leave a white residue on the cookie while the confectioner’s sugar will not.

CHILL THE DOUGH FIRST

Sugar cookie dough is a nightmare to work with if it’s not properly chilled.  In the recipe card below, it is suggested that you wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 15 minutes.  Do not cut this time short.  Be patient; your cookies will look much better – trust me!

The amount of food colouring you use is up to you.  I was quite aggressive with the amount I put in because I wanted the colours to be very bright and vibrant.  I also used Wilton gel food colouring.  Try to avoid using liquid food colouring, because the liquid will change the texture and consistency of the dough.

STORING, PACKAGING, AND FREEZING

These cookies will stay fresh for about 3-5 days in a covered container and in a cool place. But, if you plan to freeze these cookies, use a food-safe container that can be frozen. You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. (I use these quite often when freezing baked goods.) I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that cookie freshness locked in!

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. They will come out of the freezer looking just like they did when you put them in there. Once you thaw them, they will taste just as fresh, and be just as soft, as the day you first baked them.

When ready to thaw, remove them from the freezer and take out as many as you need at that time. It’s never a good idea to thaw all of them and put them back in the freezer again. Set aside for 20 minutes or so. These look great in cellophane bags with a festive ribbon. They make great gifts for friends and neighbours! Don’t package them in cellophane until the day you are giving them as a gift.

Lastly, I made three batches of the cookie dough separately.  As the recipe is written below, you will get 12 cookies, but these cookies are quite large, so well worth the effort!  That’s it; enjoy and Happy Halloween!