Witches' Finger Cookies And Red Velvet Hot Chocolate (vegan)

Witches' finger cookies served with red velvet hot chocolate 'blood' make a spooktacular treat for Halloween!

This is my last Halloween post (for this year), I promise! These witches' finger cookies are fun to make and very creepy looking, especially if you serve them with red velvet hot chocolate 'blood' for dipping them in!

There are a lot of recipes out there for varying kinds of Halloween finger cookies so I figured that I should probably give them a try to see what all the fuss is about.

They are made from a delicious buttery shortbread dough which is moulded into a knobbly finger shape, the fingernails are halved blanched almonds, and a little red gel food colouring 'blood' and cinnamon 'dirt' complete the effect.

I served them with a thick red velvet hot chocolate for dipping them in. When I searched for red velvet hot chocolate recipes, I found that most of them were just regular hot chocolate with added food colouring; which doesn't really reflect the taste of red velvet cake at all.

Red velvet is vanilla with a hint of chocolate and a tangy flavour from the buttermilk. I thought that adding buttermilk to the hot chocolate might cause it to curdle, so I used a little cream cheese instead to add that classic hint of tanginess; it tastes very much like red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting!

The recipe I have given makes a thick hot chocolate which is perfect for dipping your witches fingers in! If you prefer your hot chocolate to be thinner then you can just omit the cornflour.

I've given the quantities to make one mug of hot chocolate so you will need to multiply the recipe by the number of people you are serving.

The witches' finger cookies are pretty easy to make, but it does take a while to shape them all and they need to be frozen before they are baked so that they don't spread too much in the oven.

You can make the dough and shape them in advance and then keep them in the freezer until you are ready to bake them if you like. Once the cookies are baked and decorated they will keep in an airtight container for at least couple of days so you don't need to leave it until the last minute to make them.

How To Make Witches' Finger Cookies:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer then whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Add the flour, cornflour, salt and milk and mix until it forms a dough. Cover and place in the fridge for half an hour.

Line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment. Measure out ½ tablespoon quantities of dough (don't use more than this or your cookies will end up way too big). Roll each into a ball then roll out into a log shape.

Press a blanched almond into one end to form a fingernail, then lightly flour your hands and use them to shape it into a knobbly finger shape.

The cookies will spread a little in the oven so you need to make sure that you make them quite thin – thinner than you want the cookies to end up. Use the back of a knife to make indentations in the knuckles to make them look more like fingers.

Place the shaped cookies well spaced apart on the prepared baking sheets then place them in the freezer for at least 20 minutes, until frozen solid.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until pale golden.

When you are ready to decorate, use a little melted chocolate to stick on any fingernails that have come loose. Rub a little bit of ground cinnamon into the creases in the joints to make them look dirty.

Use a fine, food-only paintbrush to paint some red gel food colouring around the edge of the nails and on the 'stumps'. If you find that the colouring is too thick to paint or too dark in colour then you can thin it with a drop of vodka or water.

Top Tips:

As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

Don't overwork the dough as that will make the cookies tough. Just knead it very briefly until it is smooth and then stop.

Chilling the cookies before baking them helps to ensure that they don't spread. I don't recommend skipping this step!

This recipe makes a lot of finger cookies but if you don't want to make that many then you can roll out any remaining dough on a lightly floured surface and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Bake at 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/ gas mark 4 for 11-15 minutes.

More Halloween Recipes:

• Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin pies
• Tombstone cupcakes
• Pentagram apple pies
• Vegan red velvet cupcakes
• Soul cakes
• Vegan vanilla sugar cookies
• Pumpkin chocolate marble bread

If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

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5 from 5 votes

Witches' Finger Cookies And Red Velvet Hot Chocolate (vegan)

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword cookies

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Chill ing time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 50 cookies

Author Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

Witches' Finger Cookies

• 200 g vegan block butter softened
• 135 g (1 cup) icing (powdered) sugar
• 1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¾ teaspoon almond extract
• 330 g (2 ¾ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 30 g (3 packed Tablespoons) cornflour (cornstarch)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 40 g (8 teaspoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
• 110 g (¾ cup) blanched almonds halved
• ground cinnamon
• red gel food colouring
• a little melted chocolate if needed

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate (per 1 cup):

• 2 Tablespoons vegan cream cheese
• 240 ml (1 cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
• 1 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)
• 40 g (1.5 oz) dark chocolate chopped
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ Tablespoon granulated sugar
• pinch salt
• red gel food colouring

Instructions

Witches' Finger Cookies

• To make the witch finger cookies: Place the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until just combined. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and whisk again to mix.
• Sift together the flour, cornflour and salt and add to the bowl along with the milk. Mix until it forms a dough, knead the dough by hand very briefly, just until it is smooth. Cover and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.
• Line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment. Working with ¼ of the dough at a time, leaving the rest in the fridge, measure out ½ Tablespoon quantities of dough (don't use more than this or your cookies will end up way too big). Roll each into a ball then roll out into a log shape.
• Press a blanched almond into one end to form a fingernail, then lightly flour your hands and use them to shape it into a knobbly finger shape. The cookies will spread a little in the oven so you need to make sure that you make them quite thin – thinner than you want the cookies to end up. Use the back of a knife to make indentations in the knuckles to make them look more like fingers.
• Place the shaped cookies well spaced apart on the prepared baking sheets then place them in the freezer for at least 20 minutes, until frozen solid (this helps stop them spreading in the oven).
• Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200°C/180℃ fan/400°F/gas mark 6. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until pale golden. You will need to bake them in batches, keep the rest of the cookies in the freezer.
• Leave the cookies to cool on the tray. When you are ready to decorate, use a little melted chocolate to stick on any fingernails that have come loose. Rub a little bit of ground cinnamon into the creases in the joints to make them look dirty.
• Use a fine, food-only paintbrush to paint some red gel food colouring around the edge of the nails and on the 'stumps'. If you find that the colouring is too thick to paint or too dark in colour then you can thin it with a drop of vodka or water. Once the food colouring has dried, store the cookies in an airtight container.

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate:

• To make the hot chocolate, stir together the cornflour and a drop of the milk to form a slurry. Place the cream cheese in a saucepan and whisk in the cornflour slurry until smooth. Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk. Add the chocolate, vanilla extract, sugar and salt to the pan and place over a medium heat.
• Cook, stirring regularly, until the chocolate has melted and the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in some red gel food colouring, a little at a time, until you reach the desired shade.

Notes

• See post above for step-by-step photos.
• As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!