Thursday, October 24, 2013

Witch Hat Sugar Cookies

Witchy Woman by The Eagles
That little witch above has got her work cut out for her!  Shopping for the perfect hat with which she will be able to dazzle and put a spell on Don Henley and be the mysterious woman of this song!  But, let's be honest.  If there's anyone casting spells and captivating eyes and hearts, it's Don Henley!  Am I right, girls?!  Am I right?!  I got to see The Eagles in concert recently and, every now and then, I closed my eyes and just pretended away all those thousands of other people and told myself it was a private affair event.  Yeah - he's in his 60s now but that voice is still raspy and raw - and every bit as delicious as these soft chocolate witchy cookie hats.  You WILL be spellbound!


I'm sure you've heard the saying,
"If I'm wrong, I'll eat my hat!"
Well, with these cookies around, you'll be wishing for error after error!
So very soft and moist with a rich chocolatey taste and a chaser of cinnamon.
I made a few minor changes to my Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe and used
my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, making it a little thinner than usual to help with
the smaller piping lines.


I thought I had come up with an original idea here.
Ironically, I think about recipes and food presentation
ideas while exercising in the mornings.
Those endorphins open up my mind and I just have the most
productive and creative "thinking time" while I'm sweating away!

I knew I really wanted to do some sort of Halloween-themed 
treat for this post and wanted to come up with something original.
I did Ghostly Cupcakes last year - so ghosts were out.
I make a cute skeleton sugar cookie, but those are everywhere!
Eventually my mind thought of a witch hat.
And it just all came together in my head.

A chocolate sugar cookie would provide the "brim" base.  And it would have
 to be a dark chocolate hershey kiss to match the darkness of the cookie for the top.
Always a great idea!
Over time, I realized I could add some pizazz by piping chocolate frosting 
around and using it as a "glue" to hold some sparkles.
I was really excited and proud of my creative mind!
To think I came up with this darling idea all by myself!

Or did I?!

One day, just for fun, I did an online search for witch hat cookies.

Deflate ego here!

Gah!
Someone else had been just as brilliant as I - only earlier than I!
Do I scrap the post?
After all that fun I had planning and letting my mind do what it loves to do most?

I finally came to the conclusion that it was no less my own idea - even though 
someone else had it, too!
Most of the other sites use a pre-made cookie from the store as their base - usually a fudge-striped cookie turned upside down - which is a great shortcut idea!
But, can I tell you, in all honesty -
if you are going for a "rocket to the moon" flavor,
make your own sugar cookie base.
This is where the extra moments spent in prep more than pay off in the final product!

Witchy Hat Sugar Cookies
makes about 4 dozen cookies
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (355 g)
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (75 g)
1/2 t. kosher salt
1 t. baking powder
1 c. butter, softened (227 g)
1 3/4 c. granulated sugar (350 g)
2 eggs
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. orange extract (or use vanilla, it tastes great, too!)
1 pkg. Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses, unwrapped

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In a mixer bowl, thoroughly cream together the butter and the sugar until light in color and fluffy - about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to incorporate one before adding the next.  Add the extract and mix to combine.

Add the dry ingredients, all at once, to the butter and sugar mixture and mix just until it comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour - or overnight.  The flavors of this really become phenomenal when you allow it to sit before baking!

When you're ready to roll them out and bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Make a mixture of 1/2 c. flour and 2 T. of cocoa powder and stir well.  Use this to dust your surface when cutting out the cookies.

Dust the working surface with some of the flour/cocoa mixture and roll out your dough, working with half the dough at a time.  Roll to a 1/4" thickness.  Using a 2 3/8" round cutter cut out your brim circles and transfer to a lined baking sheet.  I like to give mine another chill at this point.  I find it helps with spreading issues.

Bake for 7 minutes, giving the trays a half rotation halfway through the bake time.

Let cool.

Prepare your frosting or use store bought.  Fit a pastry bag with a #3 plain round tip and another pastry bag with about a 1/2" plain round tip.  Fill each bag about half full with frosting.

To decorate the cookies, first use the frosting with the smaller opening and pipe your brim design around the cookie base.  Then, affix the chocolate kiss by holding it upside down by the tip and using the bag with the larger tip and piping a dollop of frosting onto the bottom of the kiss, using enough frosting to squish out around the kiss when it's pressed onto the cookie. 
Next, you'll want to use a small tray with sides and tap sparkles or sprinkles over the top, giving them a healthy dusting.
You'll carefully be tapping off the extra so don't freak out!  And I do mean - gently!  I gave them a soft shake side to side, then tipped them upside down to remove the excess.  I actually have a small eye shadow brush I stole from a brand new shadow duo a few years ago and I use that brush for projects just like this.  It's perfect for softly brushing away extra sparkles!  I could gather up the excess sparkles and return them to the bottle so I could sprinkle the next batch.  Sugary sprinkles work just fine, but I prefer the sparkles for this!  You can find them at Michael's in the cake decorating area.

I love looking at the rows of these bejeweled toppers - and so does she!






2 comments:

  1. Yummy! I'm getting my broom all oiled up for my evening Ride!!! I'll take some of these with me for making sure I don't lose my energy!

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    Replies
    1. Haha! You'd look sweet in one of these hats!

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