These Halloween shortbread biscuits are fun, simple and easy, and they're great for kids to help with. They're perfect for any spooky event and they're ready to eat from scratch in just over an hour!
I've made a fair few Halloween desserts so far over the last few weeks, including cupcakes, pastries, and fudge, but one thing that my collection was lacking was biscuits! So I'm changing that today and sharing my Halloween biscuits recipe with you.
These are simple vanilla shortbread biscuits, marbled with purple, orange and black dough, and cut into fun Halloween shapes. They're fun to make and great for kids to help with, and they're super easy too!
Ingredients:
Here's what you'll need for these biscuits...
- Butter: Use butter for this recipe, not margarine, for an authentic shortbread flavour. I like to use salted butter in shortbread but you can use unsalted if you prefer.
- Plain flour: Plain flour or all-purpose flour is what you need to make shortbread. Self-raising flour has baking powder added to it, which would create more cake-like biscuits rather than crunchy ones.
- Caster sugar: A finer version of granulated white sugar, also known as superfine sugar in the USA.
- Vanilla extract: This is optional but recommended for extra flavour.
- Food colouring: I used a combination of black, orange and purple food colouring for my biscuits. Green is also great for creating a spooky vibe too! Use gel or paste food colouring to prevent the dough from becoming wet and sticky.
Equipment
- Baking tray and baking paper: A large tray, or even two, to fit all of your Halloween shortbread on. I baked a half batch and kept the rest of the dough in the fridge for later. If your tray isn't a non-stick one, make sure to line it with baking paper.
- Mixing bowl: A large one, for mixing all the ingredients together.
- Utensils: You'll need a wooden spoon and a teaspoon for this recipe.
- Food handling gloves: To prevent staining your hands from the food colouring. If you don't have any gloves, you can wash the colour off of your hands a little easier by using dish soap instead of regular soap.
- Kitchen scale: To measure out your ingredients. I have included imperial measurements in the recipe card at the end of the post but metric measurements are far more accurate for baking. I recommend using a scale for this reason, especially if you're a beginner baker.
- Halloween cookie cutters: I used pumpkin and bat cookie cutters, which I got in a Halloween cookie cutter pack from Hobbycraft.
How to make Halloween shortbread biscuits
Step 1: Add 200g of softened butter to a bowl then add 100g of caster sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix well until smooth.
Step 2: Add 280g of plain flour to the bowl and mix everything together with your spoon. When the mixture is starting to stick to itself, get your hands in there and press it into a ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add more flour and if it's too dry, add a splash of milk to help it come together. Note that it shouldn't be completely smooth like cookie dough but it shouldn't be crumbling either.
Step 3: Divide the dough into three equal-sized pieces.
Step 4: Now it's time to add the colours. To one piece, add a small amount of purple gel food colouring and gently knead it in with your hands until the colour is evenly distributed. I recommend using food handling gloves to prevent staining your hands.
Step 5: Repeat with the other two pieces of dough, colouring one orange and the other one black. If the dough becomes a bit sticky after adding the colours, you can add more flour as needed.
Step 6: Lay a piece of baking paper on your worktop. Place small pieces of dough next to one another, alternating colours, trying to keep them in as much of a rectangle shape as possible.
Step 7: Gently roll the pieces together to flatten them slightly, until you have a sheet of dough that is around 1cm thick.
Step 8: Use Halloween cookie cutters to cut out your shapes and place them onto your lined baking tray. I used bats and pumpkins. Squish any scrap pieces of dough together and re-roll them until it's all used up.
Step 9: Pop the biscuit shapes in the fridge to chill for around 30 minutes. This will prevent them from losing shape while baking. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C for fan ovens).
Step 10: After the 30 minutes have passed, place your Halloween biscuits in the oven. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your biscuits- I found the perfect time to be 15 minutes for small ones and 18-20 minutes for larger ones. You'll know they're done when they are firm around the edges with a slightly softer centre. They'll also look textured around the edges underneath.
Step 11: Sprinkle the biscuits with some extra caster sugar. Let them cool completely on the tray then enjoy!
Shortbread tips
- Use real butter, not margarine, for that classic buttery shortbread flavour. Margarine just doesn't taste the same!
- Refrigerating the dough is a must if you want your Halloween biscuits to hold shape. If the butter in the dough is not cold enough, it will melt more in the oven and cause misshapen biscuits.
- Unlike other types of cookies, shortbread is not supposed to be golden brown when you bake it (it's also hard to tell when the dough is coloured). To check if it's done, gently press the biscuits. It should feel firm to the touch around the edges and slightly softer in the middle. If you overbake them, the shortbread will have a super tough and crunchy texture rather than that 'melt in your mouth' texture.
FAQs
If you keep it in an airtight container, it will last for at least a week at room temperature.
Yes, these Halloween biscuits can be frozen for up to 3 months. You can either freeze them in airtight containers (with baking paper in between layers to prevent sticking) or you can freeze them solid on a baking tray and then pop them into a freezer bag.
Yes, you can use a simple water icing or royal icing to top your biscuits if you want them to be a little sweeter.
More Halloween desserts:
- Spider web muffins
- Halloween fairy cakes
- Black & orange pinwheel cookies
- Halloween Oreo brownies
- Halloween traybake
- Halloween rocky road
I hope you like these Halloween shortbread biscuits! If you make them at home, please let me know how it goes by leaving a rating and/or comment below. Enjoy!
Halloween Shortbread Biscuits
Ingredients
- 200 g Butter, softened (1+¾ sticks)
- 100 g Caster sugar (½ cup)
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 280 g Plain flour (2 cups + 2 tablespoons)
- Gel Food colouring purple, black and orange
Instructions
- Line a large tray with baking paper.
- Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together until smooth.
- Stir in the flour until it starts to stick together. Then use your hands to press everything together into a ball of dough. If it's too wet, add more flour. If it's too dry, add a small splash of milk.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal-sized pieces. Add purple food colouring to the first piece, black to the second, and orange to the third (use gloves to prevent staining your hands). If the dough becomes sticky after adding the colours, add more flour as needed.
- Place a large piece of baking paper onto your work surface and place small balls of each colour on it, alternating until all of the dough is used up. Try to keep it in the shape of a rectangle.
- Roll the balls together to make a marbled sheet of dough that is 1cm thick. Use Halloween-shaped cookie cutters to cut out your biscuits. Re-roll scrap pieces together until all of the dough is used up.
- Place the biscuit shapes onto your lined tray then pop them in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will help them to hold their shape in the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 180℃/350℉ (160℃/320℉ for fan and convection ovens).
- After the 30 minutes have passed, bake your biscuits- around 15 minutes for small ones and 18-20 minutes for larger ones. You'll know they're done when they're firm around the edges with a slightly soft centre. They'll become more crunchy as they cool so be careful not to overbake.
- Sprinkle some extra sugar on top of the biscuits while they're still warm. Let them cool on the tray then enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Leave a Reply