First, my top tip for decorating Halloween sugar cookies is to let go of perfection! I could point out a hundred flaws in these cookies, but most people won’t even notice mistakes here and there! This isn’t the first time I’ve shared my best cut-out sugar cookie recipe and easy royal icing recipe. But I wanted to share my top tips and techniques for faking cookie decorating skills since I’m a mediocre cookie decorator (at best) and Halloween is my favorite holiday. P.S., these chocolate cut-out sugar cookies are just as great (and also hold their shape) and are another fun option for Halloween! I was intimidated by royal icing for YEARS until I finally decided to just give it a shot. And it was way less awful than I thought it would be, even with my terribly shaky hands and lack of artistic talent. And hey, if you fail (which you won’t), there are always Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars to fall back on.
What you need
Tools
Cookie cutters: You can always find fun holiday shapes at craft stores during the Halloween season. But don’t overlook a simple circle or square! My “Boo”, “Eek”, and spiderweb cookies are some of my favorites and they are just circles from my biscuit cutter set. If you are a beginner decorator, stick with simple shapes that only need 2 colors like pumpkins or ghosts. Baking sheets & parchment paper: I always bake my sugar cookies on parchment paper, more because it means I don’t have to wash the pan afterwards! Piping bags & elastics: Disposable piping bags are super handy and readily available at craft stores. I have a set of elastic ties that came with some piping tips I bought once that are fantastic for keeping the tops of the bags closed when a color is not in use, but even regular rubber bands or clean hair elastics will work. Scribe tool or toothpicks: A scribe tool is a handy little stick with a pointy end that comes in handy for nudging the royal icing around on the cookie to fill in areas of clean up edges if you don’t have the steadiest piping skills. Toothpicks work in a pinch, but a scribe tool is inexpensive and a great investment for cookie decorators.
Ingredients
Butter: I use salted butter in almost all of my baking. I know that is blasphemous to many bakers who swear by unsalted butter, but there is nothing worse than accidentally going to butter your toast and realizing all you have on hand is unsalted butter. Trust me. Sugar: Sugar doesn’t just make these cookies sweet, there is actually science behind how sugar affects the moisture level and texture of baked goods. Flour: I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour, but I imagine that many of the 1-to-1 gluten-free flour alternatives would work well with this recipe. If you try, I would love to hear about it in the comments below! Egg + egg yolk: The richness of that extra egg yolk not only helps with binding the cookies but it also keeps the cookies moist and tender. Vanilla: Sugar cookies are simple with the flavors of butter, sugar, and vanilla being front and center. I also add a little vanilla to my royal icing for the best flavor and it really makes a difference and sets it apart from other royal icings. Salt: Every great cookie needs a little salt. Baking powder: There is a very small amount of baking powder in this recipe. Just enough to provide the slightest bit of lift to the cookies so they have a soft texture without letting them puff up around the edges. Powdered sugar: This makes up the base of our royal icing. I recommend making a large batch of royal icing so you have plenty for different colors. Leftover royal icing freezes well, and if you have kids like me, I can tell you from experience that they are going to demand an extra batch of cookies be made that THEY get to decorate with the royal icing however they want. It happens every. single. time. Then they want me to eat THEIR cookies while they eat MY cookies. Please tell me I’m not the only one this happens to. Meringue powder: This sounds strange but it’s just powdered egg whites and you can find tubs of it at your local craft store in the baking and decorating area, usually next to the food coloring (affiliate link). Water: You will add water to the powdered sugar and meringue powder to make the royal icing until you get just the right consistency for decorating. This part overwhelmed me at first, but it’s a lot easier to know you have the right consistency if you remember that the outline consistency should be about the consistency of toothpaste and the flooding (or fill) consistency should look about like honey or shampoo in terms of being able to slowly melt in on itself.
How to make sugar cookies
Let’s decorate Halloween sugar cookies!
Now this is the fun part! Once your cookies and icing are made, it’s time to decorate. My best piece of advice when you are first starting out is to use the thicker icing to pipe borders around the edges. That will provide a barrier to hold the royal icing so it doesn’t spill over the edges. When you get a little more confident, you really could skip the border altogether and just use the flood consistency for almost everything, but that trick makes a big difference if you are attempting royal icing for the first time.
My favorite royal icing technique
By far, the two easiest designs for royal icing are wet-on-wet polka dots and stripes using flood consistency icing. You can do so much with these simple techniques! Start by outlining your shape with the thicker consistency icing. It helps to hold your piping bag a little above the cookie surface and let the icing sort of just drop or lay down onto the cookie rather than pushing it around. Then fill in the center of the cookie with your flood consistency icing, using a scribe tool or toothpick to nudge the frosting around until it melts in on itself and forms a smooth surface. While the icing is still wet, switch to a contrasting color and make small dots all over the cookie. Or draw stripes (or spirals in the case of the spiderweb below). The two colors will settle but stay distinct from each other. You can use a toothpick or your scribe tool to drag through the lines to create a spiderweb pattern. Or draw it through a dot going one direction and it will turn into a cute little heart. There is so much possibility with these simple, basic designs!
Multi-step designs
It takes a little more patience to achieve these slightly more detailed cookie looks, but they are much easier than you might think! The key is letting each layer of color dry at least partially before moving on to the next step. For the pumpkins, pipe the two outside segments first, then wait an hour or two before piping the center of the pumpkin, which will give it an three-dimensional look. The ghosts and cauldrons are the same approach. Pipe the white ghost and black cauldron first, then once they have set up a bit go ahead and pipe the face on the ghost and the bubbles on the cauldron. You can probably tell that the black cats were pushing the boundaries of my cookie decorating abilities. I still struggle with details and more intricate curves, but I have to say that these ones were my kids’ favorites.
Can you freeze sugar cookies with royal icing?
Once the cookies have dried completely, which usually takes at least 4-6 hours, but sometimes overnight, they freeze really well! I recommend placing a piece of wax or parchment paper between layers of cookies and freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Then thaw the cookies on the counter before serving.
Do sugar cookies ship well?
If you have friends or nieces and nephews who live far away, these sugar cookies are great for packaging and sending in the mail! The cookies themselves are pretty sturdy and the royal icing actually protects, stabilizes them, and keeps them tasting fresh for a while. I recommend wrapping each cookie in a cellophane bag, then adding plenty of filler cushioning to prevent the cookies from being jostled about during transit.
More Recipes Like This
Halloween Chocolate Blossom Sprinkle Cookies Homemade Caramel Apples Chocolate Cherry Hand Pies Graveyard Dirt Cake Chocolate Lofthouse Frosted Cookies
More Halloween Recipes
Halloween Cookies & Bars Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies from BigBearsWife Chocolate Almond Owl Eye Cookies from Savory Moments Mini Mallowmar Candy Corn Cookies from Sweet ReciPEAS Chocolate Chip Spider Cookies from Fresh Coast Eats
Halloween Cakes & Cupcakes:
Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake from The Flour Handprint Flying Purple People Eater Cake Balls from The Spiffy Cookie
Halloween Brownies:
Cream Cheese Brownies with Pumpkin from Back To My Southern Roots
Halloween Bread:
Pan de Muerto (Day of the dead bread) from Lemon Blossoms
Halloween Drinks:
Eye of Newt Halloween Milkshake from It’s Shanaka
Sweet Halloween Treats:
Halloween Marshmallow Pops from Devour Dinner Monster Mouths from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks Spooky Peanut Butter Balls from Tastes of Homemade Spider Web Ice Cream Pie from An Affair from the Heart Halloween Fudge from Sweet Beginnings The Best Halloween Muddy Buddies Mix from Family Around the Table Halloween Treat Popcorn Balls from Karen’s Kitchen Stories Halloween Charcuterie Board from I am a Honey Bee
Savory Halloween Recipes:
Air Fried Bat Wings from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
