Not-So-Scary Halloween Monster Cookies

One of the best things about Halloween is all of the adorable costumes worn by the littlest trick-or-treaters. I’ll never forget the year my young daughter was dressed as a flower with chubby cheeks. She enjoyed wearing her costume and eating her Halloween treats, but spooky costumes and trick-or-treating weren’t for her. She was the type of toddler who cried at the sight of a mall Santa. She even screamed in terror once when Ronald McDonald paid a visit to our local McDonald’s.

So in honor of those tender hearted little ones, I created some not-so-scary, pretty-darned-cute Yetis and Green-Eyed Monster cookies. You can use your favorite cutout sugar cookie dough and you don’t need any special skills to decorate them. The icing is fondant instead of frosting or royal icing which makes these cute monsters the ideal mess-free (almost) cookie decorating project for kids!

For these cookies you’ll need:

  • One batch of cutout sugar cookie dough
  • Food coloring- I used Wilton Icing Color in Rose
  • Cookie cutters
  • Parchment paper
  • Scissors
  • X-acto knife or paring knife
  • White, purple, green and pink fondant or any colors of your choice. I made lavender by combining purple and white.
  • Sprinkles- I used a combination of two parts orange sprinkles and one part pink sprinkles
  • Piping gel
  • Small food safe brush
  • Edible marker- I used Americolor Gourmet Writer
  • Candy bananas, sugar pearls or any edible decorations of your choice
  • Piping tip
  • Optional- flower punch cutter, pink petal dust, cotton swab

Divide your cookie dough in half. For the Yeti cookies, color one half of the cookie dough with pink food coloring. Wrap remaining cookie dough in plastic and set aside in refrigerator.

Yeti cookie tutorial

Roll out the pink dough and cut out the Yeti cookies. The Yeti cookies are 2 1/2 inch by 3 1/4 inch rectangles. I used a clean, recycled food can as a cookie cutter. I opened the can with a can opener at both ends, rather than using the little key that comes with the can. If you don’t want to use this method, you can make a pattern out of parchment paper and cut out the cookies with an X-acto knife or a paring knife. 

Yeti cookie tutorial

For the Yeti faces, cut two small 1 1/2 inch x 1 inch rectangles with rounded corners out of parchment paper. The first one will be used to place on the Yeti cookies to keep the sprinkles off of the faces. Place small parchment rectangle on an unbaked cookie. Apply sprinkles, pressing them gently to make sure they adhere to the cookie. Remove the parchment rectangle and repeat with remaining cookies. Bake according to your cookie dough recipe. Let cool.

Yeti cookie tutorial

Roll out white fondant to 1/8 inch thickness. Use the remaining small parchment rectangle as a pattern to cut out a face for each Yeti cookie with an X-acto knife or a paring knife. Brush a bit of piping gel onto each cookie face area. Apply the white fondant face cutouts to the cookies. Let dry for at least 30 minutes, then draw eyes and a mouth with an edible marker. I made rosie cheeks with a small amount of petal dust applied with a cotton swab. Brush dabs of piping gel to apply the banana candy horns. I also added pink fondant flowers and sugar pearls to make my Yeti cookies extra cute. 

Roll out the remaining cookie dough and cut out the Green-Eyed Monster cookies. I used an apple tree cookie cutter, trimming off the trunk part. If you can’t find an apple tree cutter, you can use a blossom or sun cookie cutter. Bake according to your cookie dough recipe. Let cool.

Green-eyed monster cookie tutorial

Roll out the lavender fondant. Cut the fondant using the same cutter you used for the cookie dough. Brush piping gel onto cookies and apply the fondant shapes. Let dry at least 30 minutes. 

Green-eyed monster cookie tutorial

For eyes, roll out white and green fondant. I used the large end of a piping tip to cut out two white circles and two green circles for each cookie. Attach the green circles to the white circles with a dab of piping gel, offsetting them slightly. I used a tiny blossom punch cutter for the pupils and applied with piping gel. Use an edible marker to draw eyelashes and a mouth.

Green-eyed monster Halloween cookies

Rainbow Marble Mini Cake with a Unicorn Cookie Topper

Rainbow Marble Mini Cake with Unicorn Cookie Topper by Brownie Mischief

Here we are! We’ve landed safely in 2017. That year that we left behind was a bumpy ride. Glad that’s over! I’m so hopeful about the New Year that I’m sprinkling good wishes around like confetti! Let’s forget all of our problems today and skip around amongst the unicorns and rainbows!

I’ve been experimenting with marbleized fondant lately, so, based on my current mood, I inevitably ended up with rainbow marble fondant. It looked so pretty on my little four inch cake, but it was screaming for a unicorn. By the way, did you know a group of unicorns is called a blessing? I made a batch, I mean a blessing, of Unicorn Cookie Cake Toppers using a small unicorn cookie cutter. They’re decorated with fondant, which is yummier than royal icing and doesn’t require any special skills. There’s no piping involved. (Phew!) These unicorn cookies are so cute and angelic, I imagine they would prance around in the clouds. If only I had some cotton candy for my unicorn to prance around on! Then, magically, I stumbled upon some cotton candy at my local discount store. Thanks Universe!

This colorful little cake will certainly brighten anyone’s day! It would be perfect for a birthday or to give to a special person “just because”. Thanks for spending a few minutes here in my happy place. Wishing you a blessing of unicorns in 2017!

 

*A note about working with cotton candy:  Apply cotton candy to your cake right before serving. When cotton candy is exposed to air, it will start to shrivel after an hour or so. If you don’t have cotton candy, a fluffy dollop of whipped buttercream would also be pretty!

To view Unicorn Cookie Cake Toppers instructions click here.

To view Rainbow Marble Fondant instructions click here.