candy corn cookies

The week leading up to Halloween was pretty busy, so regretfully, I didn't volunteer any treats for the Halloween fair bake sale. By midweek, I realized I would have enough extra time to make cookies, IF I kept it easy. The parents at our school tend to go all out and make really fun, creative desserts. I thought sugar cookies shaped like candy corn would be really cute. I used a tried-and-true recipe with a super-easy assembly method I saw online, and I packaged up a few cookies with some candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins. Simple, but appealing to kiddos.

The cookies came out really well. They're small, two- or three-bite cookies, which I think is perfect for kids.

You can use any sugar cookie dough you like; just make sure it's a recipe that holds its shape well. I made a double batch of the lemon-vanilla sugar cookies I used for cookie pops. (Note: I think a single batch would have made really skimpy cookies, so go for the double batch. You'll end up with about 8-9 dozen small cookies, so you can feed a small army.) Divide the dough into thirds, and color one third orange and one third yellow. Line a standard loaf pan with parchment or waxed paper. Press the yellow dough evenly into the pan. Top it with the orange dough, also pressed down evenly, and then finish with the white dough. Cover the dough and refrigerate it until firm, about two hours, or even overnight. You can see I didn't follow official candy corn protocol for the order of the dough, but I kind of wish I had put the orange in the middle; it is a nice offset against the yellow and white. The dough will look like this:

Slice off a few 1/4" slabs of dough from the short side of the loaf. Refrigerate the dough again while you work with this portion. It's hard to work with if it gets soft.

Cut the slab into triangles. I found I had to slice off a tiny bit from the edge to get a nice, clean cut. You will want to cut about 5 triangles. Six triangles per slab will make pretty small cookies, so stick with 5. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with a silpat or parchment, and bake according to the recipe directions. They don't spread much, so you can fit about 20 cookies on a sheet. The baked cookies should be very pale, but set.

Hang onto any leftover bits and pieces that aren't quite big enough for cookies. You can nibble on some, then lightly knead the rest together to marble the dough, re-roll them to 1/4" thick, and cut them into pieces and bake them.

These would also be really cute sprinkled with white sanding sugar. Brush the cookies lightly with water or egg white and sprinkle with sugar before baking.

Enjoy! Happy Halloween!

Print lemon-vanilla sugar cookie recipe.