One of the best parts of Halloween is baking Halloween Cookies and making fun crafts with the kids. Here’s my favorite Halloween Cookie recipe, along with some Halloween craft ideas!
Baking Our Halloween Cookies
Sugar cookies are a must for both Halloween and Christmas, so twice a year, I turn to this tried and true sugar cookie recipe.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 Cups of Butter (softened)
- 1 1/4 Cup White Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Once everything is well blended, add flour, baking powder, and salt. I am a huge fan of letting my boys get in on helping in the kitchen. even though that means everything will take 3 times as long and will make twice the mess. The time spent together is totally worth the extra mess! Cover and chill the cookie dough in the fridge for at least one hour. We made the dough for our cookies the night before we decorated them, and kept them in the fridge overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out your cookie dough about 1/2″ thick on a floured surface. If your dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour to it. Cut into different shapes using cookie cutters. We used the Halloween themed cookie cutters in the Wilton 101 Piece Cookie Cutter Set. Place cookies 1″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 6-8 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
Decorating Our Halloween Cookies
I made my own buttercream frosting to decorate our Halloween Cookies. It’s actually the same frosting I use on all my cakes. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. Sifted Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Softened Butter
- 1 1/2 Cups Shortening
- 2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 Cup of Water
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract
Directions:
Cream together butter, shortening, extracts, and water. Once well blended, slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix in food coloring to make your desired colors. You can either spread your frosting onto your cookies or add the frosting to icing bags and pipe it on. I personally like to pipe it on. I find it’s easier for the kids to handle that way. To decorate these Halloween Cookies, we made orange, green, purple, black, and white frosting. The kids had so much fun covering their cookies with all the different colors and twice as much fun eating them!
Halloween Crafts For Kids
I took a trip to Michael’s Arts and Crafts to pick up some Halloween craft supplies for my boys. I left with two big containers filled with Halloween stickers, two large bird houses, and two plaster Halloween craft paint kits. When I got home and the boys saw what I brought for them, they were so excited and couldn’t wait to start creating their masterpieces!
The first craft we started working on was turning our bird houses into haunted houses. I got out my acrylic paint and poured their favorite colors onto a paper plate for each of them. They each carefully started painting their houses. Once they finished, we set them aside to dry and started working on our second craft – the plaster Halloween craft paint kits. These were so easy for the boys to paint and entertained them for just enough time for the haunted houses to dry. As soon as they were done painting their plaster crafts, the boys started decorating their haunted houses with Halloween stickers. I loved the way their haunted houses came out and the boys loved that they were big enough to put their “guys” in.
My boys really love stickers so once their haunted houses were done, they asked for a sheet of paper to put more stickers on. They then made these Halloween collages. So simple, yet they thoroughly enjoyed making them.
One more simple Halloween craft is a paper Jack-O-Lantern. To make these, cut out all the shapes you will need ahead of time. Triangles for eyes and a nose, a mouth, and a stem. Put a dab of glue on each piece and let your child place each shape in it’s appropriate spot.
I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!
