Halloween Baking Ideas | Easy Hoot Owl Cookies - Step by Step Recipe

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The season of festivities has already begun here in India (Dussehra + Deepavali) and in US (Halloween + Thanksgiving + Christmas). While I was US, October brought two things - lots of snow and the exuberant holiday spirit. It was very hard to give it a miss and not get sucked right into it. I never wore a Halloween costume myself but I have seen many friends who used to start their planning on what to wear and whom to scare with such gusto.

Hoot Owl Cookies

Now that I am staying far far away and terribly missing them, I made a batch of hoot owl cookies, right at the very last minute. I had all these plans to write about a cake recipe today but the nostalgia of celebrating couple of Halloweens with my friends back in US got the better of me. :-)

The hardest part of this super fun cookie recipe is the wait of at least 2 hours for the dough to set a bit. Other than that, it is a real breeze to make these and store in an air tight container. I have been munching all day on these and my 4 month old little nephew got real excited looking at them. Make some and enjoy this year's Halloween with friends and family.

Do I look scaryyyy?

Easy Hoot Owl Cookies

Adapted for Taste of Home Cookbook
Makes around 12 owl cookies
Prep Time: 25 mins + chilling
Cook Time: 10 to 13 mins

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups maida/all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder (original recipe used 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted)
3 tbsp water
1/4 tsp baking soda
M & M's (or Gems)
few whole cashews

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; add 1 cup at a time to the creamed mixture.

3. Remove two-thirds of the dough; roll into a square on plastic wrap. Set aside.

4. Combine together cocoa powder, baking soda and little water.

5. Beat the cocoa mixture into remaining dough. Shape into an cylindrical log.

6. Place chocolate log at one end of the square and roll up. Pinch seams together. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

7. Unwrap dough and cut into slices. To form owl's face, place two slices side by side on a lightly greased or parchment covered baking sheet. Pinch dough at the top of the circles to form ears. Place M&M's in the center of each circle for eyes. Place a cashew in the center of the face for the beak.

8. Bake at 350° (or 180 C) for 10 to 13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Who is more cuter - my nephew or the little owl?

This is Recipe 62 added to 2013 Recipe Archive. Check out the rest of the recipes too.

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until next recipe,

Happy Halloween!!

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With so many people affected by disastrous Hurricane Sandy, here's sending loads of prayers for safety to all my East coast friends and Wishing a very Happy Halloween. :-)

Stay safe folks. This too shall pass!

On an another note, the kids of Vaidehi Ashram had a wonderful trip to Shirdi and near by places and are back in Hyderabad. I will post some photographs in few days. Thanks all who helped me to make their wish a beautiful reality.

Inspired by many bloggers throughout the world, I have taken up the NaBloPoMo 2012 challenge - to post everyday of this month. Please wish me all luck. :-)

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