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cookie tutorial

Matcha Sugar Cookies + Decorated Halloween Cauldron

October 13, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

I love a good sugar cookie, especially one that actually tastes good, and doesn’t spread all over the place when baking. I’ve shared recipes for my go-to sugar cookie recipe and my black cocoa sugar cookies, so today I am sharing with you my matcha sugar cookie recipe. It tastes amazing AND doesn’t spread when baking. I love matcha. It’s earthy, with a hint of sweetness and umami flavor. Really though, it’s hard to explain what makes matcha so appealing and tasty, but it is. My matcha sugar cookies are earthy, just sweet enough, with a hint of almond to compliment the green tea.

Matcha Cut Out Sugar Cookies

When making these cookies, I thought, what better way to highlight a green cookie than with a Halloween theme decoration. So, I went with a witchy cauldron cookie with glowy green potion bubbles with some sugar eyeballs, bones and sprinkles.

Now, if you’ve been to my blog before, you know that royal icing cookie decorating is not my strongest skill nor am I overly patient with the process. So for these cookies, I kept it easy. You will need:

a cauldron cookie cutter

15 second royal icing – black, white and bright green

a scribe tool or a toothpick

#1 and #2 piping tips

piping bags

Cauldron Cookies

I wanted to give the cauldrons a used, beat up look just to kind of make them look old and witchy. I outlined the cauldron shape on the cookie with royal icing. Then I gave the cauldron some “feet” to stand on. I filled in the outlines right away with black royal icing, leaving some areas more sparse than others. This will give the icing an uneven look when they’re completely filled in with icing. If you want a more solid look not-so-banged-up look, flood the cookie evenly and wiggle it back and forth on your work surface to even out the icing.

While the black was drying, I made icing eyeballs and bones with white royal icing. You can buy both sugar bones and eyeballs at the craft store during Halloween if you want to keep things simple. To make them yourself, pipe different small sized rounds on a parchment paper. You want to keep them small but varying in size. Let them dry completely, then use an edible marker or gel food color to paint the black centers. To make the bones, use a #1 tip to pipe a “Y” shape, then pipe an upside down “V” on the bottom of the Y.

Cauldron Cookies

For the potion bubbles, I used a #2 piping tip and piped various sized dots along the top area of the cookie. Be sure the dots do not touch otherwise they will run together. Wait for the dots to crust over and dry a bit, then add a second layer. Repeat this step 2 or 3 more times. While the dots are still wet, place the eyeballs and the bones, then the sprinkles. Let the cookies dry completely before storing and packaging.

Cauldron Cookies

If you make these matcha sugar cookies or use this decorated cauldron tutorial, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more decorated cookie recipes, check out these posts:

Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies + Decorated Pumpkins Tutorial

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

Tutorial: Speckled Egg Cookies

Matcha cut out sugar cookies
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Matcha Sugar Cookies

Matcha green tea flavored sugar cut out cookies
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Chill1 hr
Total Time1 hr 30 mins
Course: Dessert
Servings: 12 -14 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups (312g) all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons matcha tea
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 batch prepared royal icing

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, matcha and salt until combined. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until thoroughly combined.
  • Add the egg, followed by the vanilla and almond extracts beating until just combined.
  • Scrape down the bowl. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour and beat until just combined. 
  • Turn the dough out onto a work surface sprinkled lightly with confectioner's sugar. Pat the dough into a disc shape.
  • Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • Place the chilled dough on a work surface that has been sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. Sprinkle the top of the dough and the rolling pin lightly with confectioner's sugar to prevent any sticking.
  • Roll out the dough to 1/8-3/8" thick, depending on your preference, rotating the dough as you roll to prevent the dough from sticking.
  • Cut out desired shapes and place the cookies 2" apart on the cookie sheets.
  • Place the cookie sheets into the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to chill.
  • Bake the cookies for 17-20 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets, halfway through baking. You're looking for the cookies to be soft when touched in the center, but fully cooked. Baking the cookies longer will result in a crispier cookie while baking them to just cooked will keep them soft.
  • Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 10 minutes, before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

Matcha sugar cookie dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days. Dough can be frozen for up to three months.

Filed Under: Cookie Tutorials, Cookies Tagged With: cookie tutorial, cookies, cut out cookies, halloween, matcha, royal icing, sprinkles, sugar cookies, tea

Easy Decorated Halloween Ghost Cookies Tutorial

October 8, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

If you’re anything like me, you love the look of decorated cookies but just don’t have the patience or time to make elaborate decorated cookies. My easy decorated Halloween ghost cookies tutorial is just for you. These ghosts cookies are perfect for a beginner or someone who doesn’t enjoy piping (Hi, that’s me. Shaky AF hands here.) You only need one color of royal icing, and you can use any sugar cookie you wish, but I think these cookies look and taste especially awesome using my black cocoa sugar cookie recipe.

Ghost Cookies

Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies

These cookies taste like Oreo’s, legit. The cookie itself isn’t super sweet, and the black cocoa is the dominate flavor, much like an Oreo. Most of my sugar cookie recipes tend to not have a whole lot of sugar, because most of the time a sugar based icing will be on top. The full recipe and details on baking these cookies can be found on my Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies + Decorated Pumpkins Tutorial post.

I didn’t have a ghost cookie cutter, so I used a large tear drop shape. I pinch the tapered end of the dough, and shaped it to give it more of a “tail”, like a little swoopy ghost shape. If you don’t have a tear drop cutter, you can also just cut out tear drop shaped cookies using a small knife or exacto knife. They don’t have to be identical, you can use your fingers to shape the cookie the way you want it to look.

Ghost Cookies

Royal Icing

I decorated the cookies with my go-to royal icing. My royal icing is a bit unique because it contains corn syrup, which gives the icing a bit of shine when it dries, but also gives it a bit more elasticity when when piping. Additionally, it helps the royal icing to be a bit softer and not as rock hard when it’s dried.

I used the same icing consistency (15-20 second icing) to outline and fill in my cookies. Then, thin out stiff royal icing with a few drops of water at a time until a toothpick or spatula that is ran through the icing creates a line that fills up and flattens out within 15-20 seconds. For this consistency, the icing has to be thin enough to flow, while remaining thick enough that it doesn’t fall off the side of the cookie.

Ghost Cookies

Decorating easy Halloween decorated ghost cookies

I used a #2 round tip to pipe my icing. First outline the shape of the eyes and mouth. I chose to do more oval shaped eyes and a round mouth. None of my cookies are identical because that was my preference, but you can make them as similar as you would like. If it’s easier for you to have a guide to pipe your eyes and mouth, use a scribe tool, and etch the shapes onto the cookie before piping.

After outlining the eyes and the mouth, pipe a border around the perimeter of the cookies. Use the same icing bag and piping tip, and fill in the cookie with the icing. Use a scribe tool or a toothpick to even out the icing, and pop any air bubbles. Additionally, I like to sort of wiggle my cookie back and forth on my work surface so that the icing natural evens out.

Ghost Cookies

That is it, guys. Remember, you can always scrape off wet/semi-wet royal icing and start over. I hope you enjoy this easy decorated Halloween ghost cookies tutorial! If you make these ghost cookies or any decorated cookies with my black cocoa sugar cookie recipe, tag me on Instagram. I love seeing what you guys create with my recipes!

For more cookie decorating tutorials, check out these posts:

Tutorial: Snowflake Cookies

Tutorial: Speckled Egg Cookies

Filed Under: Cookie Tutorials, Cookies Tagged With: black cocoa, black sugar cookies, cookie tutorial, decorated cookies, ghost cookies, halloween, tutorial

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Hi, I’m Ashley! Welcome to the Little Vintage Baking blog – where you will find recipes, tutorials, resources and more for bakers and cake decorators.
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