Make a hanging, dancing skeleton iced cookie for halloween! Just like its paper counterparts, this skeleton is jointed which means it can dangle, dance, and otherwise behave like a marionette or puppet on a string! Perfect as a fun decoration which you get to eat too! I’ve given full details below, including my eggless spiced pumpkin cut-out cookie recipe, and the skeleton template I drew – and you can watch the whole process in my Youtube video. Enjoy!
Spiced pumpkin cut out cookie recipe – makes enough for 1 skeleton plus a little extra
This recipe is naturally eggless/ egg free, and can easily be made vegan by using vegan butter or margarine instead. Just be sure to use a fat that comes in a solid block, or your dough will be very soft and harder to cut to shape using the template.
Ingredients:
30g pumpkin puree, unsweetened ( you can steam and mash fresh pumpkin as I did, or use canned)
125g (1 stick) butter or block margarine, softened
110g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/8th tsp ground cloves – or 1.5tsp pumpkin spice mix
160g (1.5 cups) plain or all-purpose flour, plus more to dust
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- mix in the salt and pumpkin puree until uniform
- sift in the dry ingredients and mix then knead until you have a dough. Add a little more flour to 4. prevent sticking if necessary.
- Roll out the dough between two reusable baking foils or pieces of baking paper. It should be around 1cm thick to be strong enough to hang without breaking. Chill for 20-30 minutes until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F
- In the meantime, prepare your template by printing out the skeleton image of your choice, or using mine below. Cut around it as shown in the video. Cut the limbs at the joints as shown in order to make the skeleton move. You can cut at the knees, hips and shoulders as I did, or also at the neck, elbows, wrists and ankles if you want a more jointed hanging skeleton cookie – it’s up to you.
- Place the template pieces on your chilled, rolled dough and cut around them leaving about half a centimetre margin on all sides, and more at all of the joint points where the template was cut (like hips, knees, etc.)
- remove the excess dough, and use a skewer or round piping tip to create holes where the pieces of the skeleton will be tied together.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or as needed, until the cookies are starting to turn golden brown and are fully done. Smaller pieces will bake faster than larger ones, so your baking time will vary depending on how you cut the template. You may need to remove the smaller pieces carefully before the larger ones.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the tray, especially the larger ones, to set and prevent damage when moving. Once cooled a little, transfer carefully to a wire rack using a spatula or cookie lifter. Allow to cool fully before decorating.
- Flood the cookies with black royal icing or candy melts with a few drops of vegetable oil added to thin the consistency. Allow to dry fully before adding white, or the colours may bleed.
- Carefully pipe the skeleton in white royal icing or candy melts, using the template as a guide. Allow to dry fully before assembling using thin ribbon, then hanging. Be careful to tie the knots tightly – watch to the end of the video to see why!
Enjoy!
Skeleton Template:
More resources you might find useful:
✨ DIY cellophane piping cones: https://youtu.be/Y5fiW0Jz14M
✨?️See my recommended tools & products!?️✨
? Last iced cookie – bridal hair comb: https://youtu.be/R1csWBIGAxM
Some other videos you may like to see:
Buttercream flowers playlist: ?bouquet cakes, ? roses, ?peonies, ?leaves & more: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2f13h89Ozr0WWT0NUXLybiEmSxSOLe9
? Buttercream novelty cake playlist – ?tree stump, ?gift box, ?paint palette cakes and more: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2f13h89OzrxO-QMoI9Modjka2Ze-i8Z
? cake basic techniques playlist – how to layer, dowel, stack, make natural foods colours & more ? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2f13h89OzppuTaGRDi7-DH-1mtI94xI
for even more check out my channel!
❤️ My channel ❤️ https://www.youtube.com/c/FFEAbySawsen
❤️ Subscribe ❤️ https://www.youtube.com/c/FFEAbySawsen?sub_confirmation=1