Scary finger biscuits

The countdown is on for Halloween, and one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kath, made these fabulously spooky fingers with her son. Are you brave enough to try them?

There are quite a few pins of severed finger biscuits floating around on Pinterest, but I loved that Kath’s version look like zombie fingers that have clawed their way out of the ground! The spooky effect is easily achieved by dying flaked almonds for the fingernails and dusting the cooked biscuits with some cocoa powder ‘dirt’. Kath also added some spots of green food colouring for a mouldy effect!

Kath used a simple plain biscuit recipe from Martha Stewart. The recipe makes a lot, but you can freeze the leftover dough for up to three months and make some different biscuits another time.

SCARY FINGERS

Prep time: 20 mins, plus 20 mins for dough to chill
Cook time: 15 mins
Makes about 30 fingers

2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Flaked almonds
Black food colouring (or red and blue food colouring mixed together)
Cocoa powder for dusting

Colour almonds by putting them in a bowl and covering with food colouring, leaving them to soak until they become black. Dry on paper towel.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

In a food processor, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and then on a low setting, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until combined.

Take the dough out of the food processor and press it together. Divide it in two, wrap each piece in cling film (or place in a ziploc bag) and freeze until firm (about 20 mins).

Preheat oven to 160C and line oven trays with baking paper.

Take one piece of dough from the freezer and shape it into fingers by rolling pieces to about 8-10cm in length (if the dough is too hard, let it stand for 5-10 mins to soften a little).

Squeeze one end of each biscuit to form the finger tip and again near the centre to form the knuckle. Use the back of a knife to lightly score around the knuckles. Press a coloured almond flake into each finger tip to create the nail. Repeat with the other piece of dough or leave it frozen for another day.

Place the fingers on the oven trays and bake for 10-15 mins.

Let cool and lightly dust with cocoa powder.

Variations:

• Use whole unblanched almonds for fingernails without colouring them, or whole blanched almonds painted with food colouring.
• Dab red jam on the end of each biscuit for freshly severed fingers.
• Colour the biscuit dough with food colouring to make monster fingers.