cookies

Would you like to prepare an easy yet charming treat for this year’s Halloween?

Then these cute cobweb sugar cookies are a great choice for you.

Sugar cookies are sweet and tender cookies with a delicious taste.

I decided to use royal icing for these. It dries to a wonderfully smooth and hard matte finish.

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For the sugar cookies you need:

3 1/2 cups (460 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 larger eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the royal icing you need:

2 large egg whites

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

3 cups (330 grams) confectioner’s (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

cocoa powder

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1. Preheat an oven to 350 F (176 C).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer.

4. Beat until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes).

5. Add the eggs and vanilla extract…

6. … and beat until combined.

7. Add the flour and salt and beat until you have smooth dough.

8. Place the dough on a floured surface and form a ball.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.

9. While you are waiting for the dough to chill, you can prepare the royal icing.

Beat the egg whites with lemon juice.

Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until combined and smooth (soft peaks should form).

And while we need two colors for the cobweb design (brown and white) we need to divide the mixture now.

So divide the mixture into 2 parts – 3/4 (add the cocoa powder little by little into this part until you achieve the wished color) and 1/4 (remains white).

Keep the brown and the white mixture in airtight containers as royal icing hardens when exposed to air.

10. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge.

On a lightly floured surface roll out to the thickness of 1/4 inch (0,6 cm).

Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure it does not stick to the counter.

Using a lightly floured round cookie cutter cut out the shapes and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for about 10 minutes.

11. Remove from the oven and let cool.

12. And let’s decorate.

Fill your pastry bag with the brown icing and draw a border on your cookie.

Then draw a few lines within the border.

13. Using a teaspoon spread the icing…

14. Now, draw circles with the white icing.

15. And the final magic!

Using a toothpick, draw a line from the center to the edge of the cookie.

And here we go, we’ve achieved the wonderful cobweb design!

Lovely!

Let the icing harden overnight (for at least 12 hours) and …

… enjoy!

The recipe for the sugar cookies and royal icing has been adapted (and adjusted) from joyofbaking.com.

Makes about 40 cookies.

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