These are my all time favorite cookies.  My mom found this recipe in the paper when I was about seven.  I have had them every October since (and, yes, for those of you math whizzes out there…that would be 34 years).  It just doesn’t seem like Halloween until I see these little guys’ smiling faces.  When I was in college, my mom mailed a box of these to me.  They were an instant it during mid-terms!  Once I graduated and set up my own home, I started making them myself.  I delivered them to friends and co-workers and they always get rave reviews.  (I even got one marriage proposal off of them – no, it wasn’t Steve…shhhh!!! don’t tell …obviously I said no!)  There are several great things about these cookies.  If you roll your dough out a little thicker, they make almost cake like cookies…a little crunchy on the top and crumbly in the middle.  If you roll it out thinner, they’re just a delicious but the texture is really different.  My mom always makes them thinner and smaller.  I use a fairly large cutter for mine and make them thick (so once cookie is more than enough for a treat!).

I use this dough throughout the year for everything from Christmas cookies to St. Patrick’s Day cookies.  Chances are if you’ve ever received a cookie from me, it’s from this recipe! 

This is the perfect recipe to make with children.  Every child I’ve every made them with and enjoyed it.  It’s messy and the cookies don’t always end up pretty, but the fun is definitely worth it!

About the frosting….don’t tell or I’ll be banished from cooking societies everywhere (like I belong to any).  It’s canned.  Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Classic White to be exact.  Now, I have used different homemade frostings and I love them with these cookies, but for Halloween I always use the canned variety because it’s a whole lot easier.  I know, I know, there are cooking experts out there who say that making frosting is as easy as buying it.  I’m sorry…I just don’t belong in that camp…you can not convince me that pulling out your mixer and spreading powdered sugar all over the place is easier than popping  a top and pulling back an aluminum foil seal.

Here’s the recipe:

Preheat oven to 375⁰F.

1 cup butter

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

3 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 cans of white frosting

1 bag of candy corn

1 bag of M&Ms

Tint 1 and 1/2 cans of the frosting orange (use gel coloring or you’ll get Tequila Sunrise orange like I’ve mentioned before).

Tint the last 1/2 can of frosting green

In mixer bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in vanilla. Stir together dry ingredients. Gradually add to creamed mixture. Chill dough thoroughly, 3 to 4 hours. Shape or cut into pumpkins. Bake 6-8 minutes.

Frost pumpkin bodies orange and the stems green. Decorate Jack O’ Lantern faces with M&M’s, and candy corn.

Enjoy!