Description
Delightfully spooky and fun, these Ghost Sugar Cookies are perfect for Halloween celebrations. Made with a classic sugar cookie dough, these ghost-shaped treats are baked to a light golden edge and decorated with smooth white icing and black details to create playful ghost faces. Ideal for parties or festive baking with kids, these cookies offer a perfect balance of buttery sweetness and decorative charm.
Ingredients
Scale
For the cookie dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp. milk
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For sugar cookie icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup milk, plus more for thinning
- 1/4 tsp. almond (or vanilla) extract
- Black food coloring
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and kosher salt to ensure even distribution of the leavening agents and salt throughout the dough.
- Cream butter and sugar and form dough: In another large bowl, beat softened butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined to avoid overworking the dough. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour to firm up.
- Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a clean work surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8” thickness. Use a ghost-shaped cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Re-roll scraps and cut out more ghosts. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets and freeze for 10 minutes to help maintain shape while baking.
- Bake the cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Remove from the oven and place the cookies on a wire cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
- Make icing: While cookies cool, prepare the sugar cookie icing by combining powdered sugar, light corn syrup, milk, and almond or vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth.
- Color black icing: Transfer about 1/4 of the white icing into a small bowl and add black food coloring. Stir until the black icing is well colored.
- Pipe white icing edges: Place about half of the white icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and carefully pipe the edges around each cookie to create a defined outline.
- Fill cookie centers: Thin the remaining white icing by adding 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until the icing flows easily but is not too runny. Transfer to another piping bag and fill in the centers of the cookies, using a toothpick to pop air bubbles and spread the icing evenly, filling any gaps. Let the icing set for 15 minutes.
- Decorate faces: Place the black icing in a piping bag with a small round tip and pipe eyes and mouths onto the cookies to create ghostly faces.
Notes
- Chilling the dough before baking helps the cookies keep their shape and results in less spreading.
- Freezing the cut cookies before baking also helps maintain crisp edges.
- If the icing becomes too thick while decorating, add a few drops of milk to thin it to the desired consistency.
- Use a small piping tip for more control when decorating faces or edging the cookies.
- Store decorated cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 140
- Sugar: 12g
- Sodium: 85mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
