Halloween is nearly here! But, the week and weekend before are always filled with lots of spooky events! How fun would it be to show up at your next Halloween party with a tray of Witches Fingers? And these almond treats are yummy too!
To start off, you’ll need to measure out some shortening… I put these pics in a little gallery for you because I am using the Pampered Chef Measure All cup, which in my opinion is the only way to measure anything creamy. Take a look.
Now for the dry ingredients:
Now add the flour mixture into the mixer:
Now for the almonds. I don’t have ground almonds so I used one of my new favorite products, the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor to achieve what I need… take a look:
Add your ground almonds into your mixture… you will need to do this with clean hands.
You will need blanched almonds to make your “finger nails”. You can buy blanched almonds, but I didn’t I just took a few minutes to blanch my own.
Witches Fingers Almond Cookies
Makes 48 cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup Vegetable Shortening
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup ground almonds
48-50 blanched almonds (see tutorial above)
1/4 tsp. green food coloring
4-5 drops red food coloring (or hot pink)
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
Cream shortening and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add egg and extract. Beat until incorporated.
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to shortening mixture in 2 additions. Mix well after each addition until smooth and clay like.
Add ground almonds. Knead until incorporated. Divide dough in 2 and set half aside. Divide the remaining dough into 4 parts, then take each of those 4 parts and divide into 6 parts. Shape into roughly a 3″ “finger”. Press a blanched almond into one end of each “finger”.
To the remaining dough, add in green coloring and knead until incorporated. Also, add in red or hot pink coloring to the remaining almonds. Divide dough in 2 and set half aside. Divide the remaining dough into 4 parts, then take each of those 4 parts and divide into 6 parts. Shape into roughly a 3″ “finger”. Press a blanched almond into one end of each “finger”.
Bak on a parchment lined baking sheet for 10-13 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies sit for a few minutes before placing on a cookie drying rack.
Enjoy!