Bag Of Bones Skeleton Cookies!
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 60 minutes plus 1 1/4 hours chilling time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
- 85g/3ozs butter, softened
- 140g/5ozs white caster superfine sugar
- 1 egg, at sroom temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 200g/7ozs all-purpose flour (or a bit more, I needed about 30g more for this batch) plus extra to dip cutter in
- Skeleton cookie cutters (I bought mine from Williams Sonoma in the U.S.)
For icing
- 150g/5ozs. icing or confectioners sugar, sifted
- 1 egg white
- 1-1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
Step 1 - Using a beater attachment, beat the butter and sugar until pale. Add the egg, vanilla and lemon zest and beat until combined. Then on the lowest speed, add the flour until it becomes a pliable dough. If it is too sticky, gradually add some more flour (if it too sticky, the dough will spread).
Step 2 - Split the dough in half and roll each half out between two sheets of parchment. Rest in fridge for 1 hour.
Step 3 - Line two baking sheets with parchment. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Dip a cutter into the flour and then cut out skull, rib, leg and hip shapes. If you're using cookies with an indent, flip it over and press down firmly but gently to make an imprint. You want the imprint to be distinct so that it can hold the royal icing in the crevices thus easily creating the pattern. Place back in the fridge for 20 minutes or freezer for 10 minutes (this helps the cookies keep their shape). Then bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until baked through. Cool completely.
Step 4 - In a food processor, place the icing sugar and process until all lumps disappear. Add the egg white and whizz, then add just enough lemon juice to make it liquid enough to pool in the crevices. I decant some and then use a little fondant tool to scoop it into the holes. Repeat for all the cookies (get comfortable, sit down and don't bend over the cookies because it hurts your neck and back!). Allow to set completely. Bag dem bones up!