Severed Finger Cookies

This recipe was originally posted on my Thoughtful Eating column on the Woburn Patch.

Severed Finger Cookies

Ingredients:

2-2/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 egg

1 tsp almond extract (optional if you want almond flavored fingers)

red writing gel or red frosting in a tube

sliced almonds

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and confectioner’s sugar with a handheld mixer or a spoon and some elbow grease. Add the sugar and butter mixture to the flour mixture and add the egg and almond extract. Mix thoroughly until you get one big lump of dough.

Take sections of the dough, about 1 inch round clumps. Roll in our hand to form a ball then roll again between the palms of both your hands to make a 3 inch long finger. Add each finger to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Flattened each finger ever so gently. If you want to be even more creative, you can score the cookies with a knife to make the lines for the skin wrinkles or the cuticles.

Once you have formed all your fingers, bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges just start to become golden. Don’t over cook!

Let cool for about 10 minutes before frosting. Take your frosting or gel tube and squeeze a half moon at the top of the finger. Place an almond nail on top. Then add three lines across in the middle to represent wrinkles. Squeeze more frosting on the bottom to represent the bloody stump. Enjoy!