HALLOWEEN SPOOKY LADY FINGER COOKIES AND CHOCOLATE BLOOD DIPPING SAUCE

Halloween post #1: I made Martha Stewart's Ladies Finger Cookies and my own recipe for the chocolate blood dipping sauce. I loved the way the cookies turned out because they were very spooky and neat to look at and I know if you have these at your party they will be a hit. Here is what I did not like about the recipe it took 2 hours to make and the taste was very OFF. It just did not taste very good. So if I make these again I will use my own recipe for the cookies. If you want a short cut I would just use a ready made sugar cookie package that you would get at the store and shape them into fingers and add the almonds.
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Here is the step by step on how to make these goodies:

Almonds in the water

• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 30 blanched almonds
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt

1. Blanching Almonds (taking the skin off the almond): 

Put your almonds in a bowl that can handle heat

and set aside. In a sauce pan bowl about 1 cup water and once it comes to a bowl pour over the almonds making sure the almonds are submerged completely into the water. Let these sit in the water until you are done with the dough the longer they stay in the water the easier the skin comes off the almond.

Egg and Vanilla Whisked together

2. Separate one of the eggs put the white part of the egg in a small plate (You will use that later to brush the cookies) Take the egg yolk the 2nd egg and vanilla and whisk together so that it is well combined you should have a few small bubbles after whisking it together and set that aside for now.  

 

Butter and sugar

3. In another bowl combine butter, Powdered Sugar, Sugar & salt. Mix until well combined. Should look like a crumble

Combine well

4. Add the egg mixture to the butter and sugar and add the tablespoon of yogurt as well at this time.

Final Mixture

5. Now add the flour into the mixture. I would add 1/2 cup of flour at a time. Make sure it is mixed together and it will look like a soft dough.

Wrapped up dough

6. Now lay out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and put all the dough on top of the plastic wrap it up real tight and put it on the fridge for 30 minutes. Now preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Almonds before draining

Almond Peels

Peeled almonds

7. While the dough is resting in the fridge you can work on the almonds. The color of the water that the almonds are in should be a brown color at this point. Drain the water from the almonds and start peeling the almonds. The skin should pop right of off at this point. Put the peeled almonds in a separate bowl and throw away the peels.

Peeling almonds

 

Painted Almonds

8. Now spread the peeled almonds on a plate lined with parchment paper. After the almonds are laded out put a few drops of red food coloring in a small bowl and start painting the almonds the red color. Put the almonds aside for now.  

About the press out the dough

Cut the dough into strips

Rolled out on the tray

9. On a clean counter throw some flour on the counter and remove the dough from the fridge. Unwrap the dough from the plastic wrap and cut in half. Put one half of the dough back in the wrap and put the other half on the counter on top of the flour. Working with the dough that is on the counter start pressing it out and cut in strips. (if the dough is sticking to the counter just add more flour to the counter to keep it from sticking) Now take each of the strips and start rolling them into finger shapes (remember these do not have to look perfect they are for Halloween) After they are the shape you like put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Do the same thing with all the dough

Ready for the oven

10. Now take fingers on the tray and start putting the almonds "nails" on the front of the cookie to resemble fingers. Then start adding some lines with a butter knife to resemble the knuckles and line on a finger. After all the cookies have nails and lines on them get a brush and brush the egg white over the cookies and put in the oven. It should take about 12-15 minutes to bake. You want a nice golden brown.

11. After the cookies are a nice golden brown remove from the oven and let cool completely.

 

Blood Chocolate Sauce

• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 cup of white chocolate or red chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 drops of red food coloring (only add this to the white chocolate if you don't have red chocolate)

1. Boil the heavy cream in a sauce pan it should take about 5 minutes you just want a little boil. 

Ready to serve

2. In a bowl that can handle heat add the chocolate (I used red chocolate if you are using white chocolate add the red food coloring) Add the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until well combined and after the chocolate is completely melted add the butter whisk until butter dissolves and set aside to cool and serve.   

 

FINISHED PRODUCT Dip the fingers into the chocolate blood sauce makes a great combination. HAPPY HALLOWEEN.