DAY OF THE DEAD COOKIES RECIPES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy; add almond paste. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour., On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut out with a floured 5-in. skull-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes or until firm. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely., In a large, shallow microwave-safe dish, melt white candy coating melts according to package directions. Dip top side of each cookie into coating, allowing excess to drip off; place on waxed paper., Add decorations as desired. Tint remaining white candy coating black; pipe on mouth. Let stand until set.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until combined, then add flour mixture gradually until totally combined. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour. When ready to roll, preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out dough until 1/8” thick. Using a skull cookie cutter, cut out shapes and transfer to prepared baking sheets. Freeze 10 minutes (so your shapes hold while baking!). Bake cookies until edges are lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely.  Meanwhile make icing: In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla. Add about a quarter of the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Outline edges of cookies.  Pour about half of remaining icing into another medium bowl and thin with 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until a good flooding consistency. Add to another piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe icing into centers of cookies to fill completely with icing. Divide remaining icing into 6 separate bowls and dye them black, teal, orange, green, purple, and yellow.  Place colors into separate piping bags fitted with a small round tip and pipe decorative faces onto cookies.