I’ve been called Morticia Addams more times than I can remember. As you know, I’ve always felt an affinity with the dark and unusual and so that is why I embrace Halloween. I’m convinced that I were alive in the dark ages, I would have probably been called a witch and perhaps burnt at the stake so it’s rather fortunate that I live in the 21st century and I can carry a Witches Hat shaped umbrella without incident (although let’s be honest, people do stare).
So when I make these witches fingers, they are more of an homage to witches. Of course they had to be green after my favourite witch, Elphaba, the misunderstood heroine of the musical Wicked – a character I identify with. I first saw these on Yeah, That Vegan Shit where they called them Bloody Finger cookies and I tried their recipe but my fingers spread out too much and resembled fat Shrek fingers (which my husband thought they were meant to be) so I decided to use a shortbread recipe as that would maintain its shape. As with all of my Halloween recipes, they aren’t just a novelty and they actually do taste fabulous at the same time so anyone reluctant to try a finger or two may find themselves contentedly gnawing on a knuckle.
My Witch’s hat umbrella
As for my “friend” in the picture, well she’s a special treat amongst others for my Halloween party guests. I won’t give away what her role is but if you do happen to be coming to my party, don’t google it and let her be a surprise to you. For those who aren’t coming, google “Donna the Dead” and you’ll see that she’s the real star of the show come Saturday night!
So tell me Dear Reader, what scares the pants off you?
Shortbread Witch’s Fingers
An original recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Makes 24 Witches Fingers
- 200g unsalted best quality butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 1/3 cups plain flour
- 3/4 cup rice flour
- tiny pinch of salt
- a few drops of almond essence (optional)
- Green food colouring
- Natural almonds
- Red food colouring in a tube
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Line two baking trays with parchment. First blanch your almonds by placing them in a small saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes and then removing them and running cold water over them. The skins should slip off easily (if not, put them in the hot water for another minute). Dry on a paper towel and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in colouring and essence and beat until combined.
2. In another bowl, mix both flours together with salt until combined and then fold into butter and sugar mixture. You may need to knead it slightly so that it comes together. This is the fun bit. Grab a small handful and shape it into a log shape. These do not spread much so you don’t need huge gaps between them but you do needs gaps. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Pinch some areas to make the fingers knobbly and emphasising the knuckles. Place one of the blanched almonds as the nail. Get a butter knife and draw in lines on the knuckles. At the end of the “finger” make an indentation as shown so that it looks more like a severed finger bone (I never thought I’d ever write that sentance on this blog!).
3. Bake at 190c/375F for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 160c/315F for a further 10-15 minutes until ever so slightly browned. As soon as they are out, pipe some red food colouring on the ends of the fingers as if they were bloody when ripped off. Then while they are still very hot, carefully lift an almond and draw a pattern of blood in the outline of the nail and press the almond down again to secure. As they are delicate, wait until they are completely cool before removing them from the tray. Get severed head and place beside thee for a truly spooky experience. Cackle loudly.
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75 Comments | Add your own
I’m really diggin your Halloween posts. Great stuff and those fingers look so real! The almond really does the trick
Kinda creepy, but very fun! Love ‘em!
Love these green witch’s fingers and your other Halloween cookies!
not sure I could bring myself to eat one!
They look awesome and spooky!
Cheers,
Rosa
THOSE ARE WICKEDLY COOL!
haha those are awesome!
I am guessing that anyone who is a bit squeamish will be going hungry at your party!
I love seeing all you halloween creations!
I’m thinking of making your blood clot and pus jelly from last year! Your fingers look freakishly awesome!
I would love to see your witch hat umbrella! It sounds too cute. And I have to say that I’ve been seeing Witch’s Fingers on many blogs lately, but yours are the best I’ve seen yet! I especially love the touch of red you add, it gives it just the right spooky effect!
I love them! They’re so so cool!
Katie xox
we do not celebrate halloween here . these look perfect though. i would eat a whole hand
i like morticia. that s a compliment to be called like that
I would love to gnaw on one of your witches fingers whilst cackling gleefully!!!
That is so bright. I googled Donna the Dead and freaked out. How scary.
They look so scary Lorraine! Also, I am too scared to google Donna the Dead!
The second time in two days I have seen finger/ hand related foot stuff:
http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2009/10/27/meat-hand/
I love your halloween posts, lorraine. I guess unfortunately I don’t have the time these days to bake so much. Your posts are wonderful…
These are very cool. I saw them on another site earlier this week, but theirs weren’t green, and they didn’t disclose how they made them – so thanks for the recipe/method!
I am a little highly strung and imaginative, so it is easy to scare the pants off me.
Hahah!! They are so AWESOME!!
Have a fun Halloween!
Holy shit, these are amazing!
Clever, clever cooking idea Lorraine. As for what scares me, I try to decrease opportunities to be scared rather than increase them. But a horror movie will do it every time. I am a fan of Clive Barker stories (books and movies) and right now I am looking to get ‘Midnight Meat Train’. I think that will do the trick. And Donna the Dead, OMG, you’ve got to love technology.
Lorraine, these are so clever. Spooky, but clever. Question is, where on earth would you even find a witches hat shaped umbrella? I’d love to see it!
“fat Shrek fingers” Ha Ha!
Things that scare the pants off me:
- dark, narrow tunnels
- nyc deli food buffets
- big dogs
- giant roaches
Please don’t ever make any delicious/scary roach cookies. That will terrorize me for months!
I wish I had time to bake some of your Halloween treats- I am working on Thanksgiving and Christmas already…Have you ever made panettone?? I am going to try it this year- it is hard to find in my area and I adore it, even though I am pretty sure I have never had anything remotely close to ‘fresh’ panettone…I will blog about it when I get all my ingredients together. Meanwhile, keep up the blood and gore (in the kitchen, I mean)!
Hahaha that’s so clever! I love the colour choice too
I immediately thought of Wicked!
Hi Lorraine,
I won’t lie and say that these cookies look delicious… though I am sure that they are! I loved Wicked and Elphaba too- saw it on a dreamy trip to New York a few years ago. Hope you’re having fun counting down to Halloween!
Honestly I don’t think I wanna try those fingers…look so real
, so I’ll take your words 
They are amazing!!! Your halloween party is certainly going to be spectacular!!
Oh Lorraine, you’ve outdone yourself with that styling! Lucky for us too that you live in this century. And where did you get your witch’s hat umbrella ? It sounds so fun!
Gorgeous girl, I read your adventures every morning and they never fail to impress. Outstanding cooking/writing/photography, always… but your recent dedication to all things Halloween…. legend. I hope you know how clever you are
Lovin’ your work! AM. x
Spookily enough, I was planning to make ghastly green severed fingers on Friday with the kids. Yours are fab!!
Do you think I could just make an indentation for the nail? One of the little ones has a nut allergy, so I’m currently shaping fondant fingernails! I’m thinking that shortbread probably won’t spread too much for it to be a problem.
Hilarious, life-like and so green lol. Your Halloween party sounds like it’s going to be a blast!! Have fun.
The only thing that scares me are mice and rats. Yuk, they give me the shivers.
Okay sweetie, I’m a bit worried about Donna. If the spiders scared you, then you need to be very careful with Donna! Also, eating Elphaba fingers, no matter how tasty, may give you bad dreams. Proceed with caution!
MMMmmm . . fingers . . .
Those shortbread fingers look so scarily real! I love your Wicked umbrella – such a shame they didn’t sell it at the Sydney show =( I was so looking forward to buying one!
I’ll tell you what scares me – those creepy green witch fingers! Erk! I had to scroll down quickly with my hand over my eyes. Not to take anything away from your awesome baking skills, though..
They are so creepy Lorraine! Not sure who you surprise guess is, but will check out the link. I am terrified of sn-k-s. So afraid I can’t even spell the word out. On another note, I just sent a package to Australia, and I when I filled out the customs form, nothing was said about grains. So send me your address again and I’ll give it a try. You will love grits.
Too cool. I just saw these bloody worms of gloom from Nick at Macheesmo. You’ll love it for your party. http://bit.ly/2DoILo
Yay! I always love your halloween posts! I’m still yet to try those ghost pies hahahaha
That head creeps me out! lol! Man, I’m easily scared. I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat those fingers without gagging…I have too much of an imagination, and they really do look scary!
Wow this is cool xD You seem to be doing a lot of Halloween stuff lately. My friend said she wants to go Trick or Treating but being from Australia, no one really celebrates Halloween
I’ve seen Halloween themed cupcakes in Cupcakes on Pitt but that’s it.
They’re awesome! I love the fingernails.
Ooh! Scary! That head in the picture is really creepy! The shortbread fingers look great though, I’m sure kids would go crazy over them! Great Halloween post
they look fantastic
You went to “Wicked’ I see!! Awesome! Altho I didn’t see the umbrella on sale. Too cool. What a find
Oh wow, I love that umbrella! It’s awesome!
I have a confession to make: I’ve been reading Tarot since my college days and I do aromatherapy and homeopathy. Does that make me a witch?
Anyways: loved your shortbread fingers – sooo Elphaba! (Yes, I’m a Wicked fan, too!) I was thinking of using my seriously green pandan extract to make these – fragrant AND gruesomely green!
Teeheheheh I love them! So cool! You always come up with the best stuff. Halloween at your place would truly be awesome!
Love the look and the photography, but I think I’ll save the eating of the fingers to the kids haha
Fun! You are inspiring me to get all halloweeny – though I do need a break from baking for at least a couple of days after the past 24 hours
these look so creepy!
love the colours.
shortbread huh.
clever idea for halloween!
can’t imagine something so creepy looking tasting so good! heehee.
Pure awesomeness on a delicate green platter to match the fingers! They look adorably delicious and creepy and funny all at the same time, genius NQN!
your green fingers scares moi! ahaha but they are the most hilarious strange witty scary kinda ‘finger’ food ive ever seen! I love it!
creeeeeepy! i won’t lie–that bug-eyed face made me jump a little bite.
and by bite, i mean bit. see, always food on the mind.
LOL! Brilliant and oh-so-sinister!
Delightfully ugly Lorraine!
I agree that your Halloween posts are just so much fun! I didn’t realize that this is the last week to be Halloweeny! Oh no! I was planning to make a gigantic pineapple carrot cake this weekend, but I’ll have to think about something a little more spooky!
LOVE these cute witches’ fingers, particularly the green tint. Donna the Dead, though, totally creeped me out!!
Your Halloween creations are awesome! I love these fingers!
HAHA those spooky fingers look funny and awesome!!
Green fingers with blood red trim! How absolutely gruesome.
I WANT that umbrella.
Gosh! I am not sure I will those fingers…. creepy! ANother really creepy creation. Can you send me an invite for next year’s halloween? I will fly up to Syd. for sure!
I’m loving your Halloween spirit in all of your posts! These witches fingers are brilliant right down to the texture and color. Spooky, indeed!
how bizarre – these are the fingers I had thought of trying but don’t have energy for doing this year – I love them green and gory – will bookmark for one rainy day!
Oohhh! I wish I could come for your party! All that halloween stuff looks bloody brilliant. super awesome!
I must say, I was scrolling down and bang! Those eyes gave me the fright of my life! Well donnneee (but damn ittt)!!!
Another great halloween creation!You really are a halloween queen!
Hehe, my mom made those for a Halloween party I had when I was about 13. She didn’t dye them green but they were creepy and tasty anyway.
Those finger biscuits are awesome, they look very scary indeed!!
I saw that donna the dead doll hanging from a tree outside a house in Drummoyne today it looked really cool, I swear, Renwick St in Drummoyne is the coolest street ever, so many houses there were decorated for halloween, it looked very exciting!!
What a cool post!! Your fingers rock, girl!!
hahahahahaha,..I love your umbrella too!
ihih,these are like honestly scary!
Thanks everyone for your sweet comments!! I tried to make them as gross and realistic as possible hehe. Thanks for sharing what scares you-a lot of those things scare me too!
Mardi, that normartha hand is awesome! :O I wish I was that creative! I wanted to do an arm but had no idea where to start…
Julia & Shaz, the umbrella is from the Wicked show in London. I don’t think they have the same shape here though or in the US. It seemed to be a London exclusive!
La Pastry Chef- don’t worry teh idea of cockroach shaped food freaks me out too!
Angela, I’m probably too late (in fact I’m sure I’m too late
) but yes you could or maybe shape something out of fondant (maybe turn it a bruised colour for a bruised nail?)
Angela, those worms are amazing! :O
Katrina, thanks for that, I must visit that street (or buy a place there!)
Hi.. i am planning to make these for my daughters carnival bake sale… But i had a query i used 2 diff recipes for spooky fingers but they spread a lot and no where looked like fingers,
I am now going to try your recipe.. and would like to know if this spreads too?? also i cannot use color for the bake sale.. so is it ok if i avoid ??
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