These healthier witch finger cookies use jam in place of food coloring! They can be made with all-purpose flour or with white whole wheat flour for a 100% whole grain version. The perfect, gory Halloween dessert!
I’m preparing for a Halloween party and had no intention of posting these bloody witch fingers but after seeing how they came out, I just have to!
I’ve been struggling to come up with Halloween desserts that are totally free of processed food so I was ridiculously happy to have come across these. It’s been done a thousand times before, I know, but these are a little less processed.
All of the witch finger cookies I found use red decorating gel. Food coloring doesn’t normally bother me (I know it should) but the thought of eating red decorating gel makes me queasy.
So here we have some awesome strawberry jam. And it complements the almond flavor perfectly.
I also used it in 3 of the 4 recipes I link to below. It makes for some awesomely delicious blood.
Make sure to use a jam that doesn’t have large chunks of strawberries in it. I guess you could, if you want them to be messy and have the appearance of blood clots. That could be interesting. :D
To be honest, I think these shortbread cookies are kind of boring tasting without the jam. Strawberry jam helps out with the taste a lot. Raspberry jam would also be great but for the blood effect, I think strawberry is better.
I’m not a crunchy cookie kind of girl. I think out of all my cookie recipes, only 2-3 aren’t soft and chewy. But these are an exception! We absolutely love these shortbread cookies.
If you don’t have white whole wheat flour, you could use all-purpose flour in these witch finger cookies. I’m guessing whole spelt would also work well! You may need to add a tiny bit of extra flour if the dough is extra sticky.
Unfortunately, I haven’t tried to make them gluten-free yet. It’s on my list!
Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-free Baking Flour would probably work, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure.
So what kind of desserts are you making for Halloween? I’m bummed I’m just now getting on the Halloween bandwagon. These bloody witch finger cookies are so fun!
For a fun healthy Halloween drink (also without food coloring!), try this Halloween punch with eyeballs from Food Doodles!
Update: people freaked out over these witch fingers at the Halloween party! Definitely a hit. :)
Looking for more Halloween desserts that can be made healthier?
Bloody Witch Fingers (easy and without food coloring)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 60 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (226 grams), softened
- 1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 large (50 grams, out of shell) egg
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cups (334 grams) white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour (or a mix of the two)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (105 grams) blanched almonds
- 1/2 - 1 cup (118 - 236ml) strawberry jam
Directions
- Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix. When well combined, add the flour and salt. When thoroughly combined, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C). Take about a fourth of the dough out of the fridge and begin rolling out the fingers. I rolled them out the size of my pinky, both in length and thickness. Add an almond to the tip for the fingernail and press down to make sure it's secure. Form a knuckle by squeezing (see the picture above!) and then use a knife to make some creases. Place on a Silpat on a cookie sheet (or just a cookie sheet), leaving about a centimeter between them. Repeat with the rest of the dough until the cookie sheet is full.
- Bake for 17 - 22 minutes or until slightly golden. Let the cookies cool, and then remove the almonds from the cookies. Add some jam in the cavities and then put the almonds back, making sure you used enough jam for them to ooze a little. Also add some jam around knuckles for extra nastiness. I used about 1/2 cup jam and used the rest as "dip."
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also keep them in the fridge to keep them for longer (about a week).
Notes
- If you live in Germany, you need to use half Type 550 for the all-purpose flour and half Type 405 (which is the normal kind you find everywhere). You can get Type 550 at any non-discounter. For the almond extract, I used two vials of Bittermandel Backaroma.
Adapted from Allrecipes
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59 comments on “Witch Finger Cookies (without food coloring!)” — Add one!
2 comments are awaiting moderation!
Hi… id jus like to know if u did add baking powder or not? I made mine with baking powder n they puffed up n looked weird.pls do reply
There’s no baking powder listed in the recipe. Since you added baking powder, that’s why they puffed up. Why did you add baking powder?
Ok to leave the dough in the frighted overnight?
I meant *refrigerator
It is! Hope you’ll enjoy them. :)
Thank you Erin for this recipe! I will do them for halloween. Just a question: how do you store them and how long in advance can we make them?
Many thanks for your answer
You’re welcome! Thanks for pointing out that that info was missing. Just added it! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also keep them in the fridge to keep them for longer (about a week). :) I’d love to hear how they come out!
Hey Erin,
Do you have any video tutorial of this recipe?
I’m so sorry for just now seeing your comment! Unfortunately I don’t. :)
Have you tried making these gluten free? I’m wondering if I could substitute gluten free all purpose flour or almond flour. Any thoughts?
I’m so sorry for just now seeing your question! I’m probably too late now but for anyone else wondering, almond flour won’t work but a GF 1-to-1 flour might. But I’m really not sure since I haven’t tried it. Sorry again!
These didn’t work out for me, they all came out completely thin & flat. I’m not sure what I did wrong. In the recipe it lists 1 1/3 cup of flour twice, so was it supposed to be 2 2/3 cups of flour total? I assumed it was accidentally listed twice, so only did the 1 1/3 cups. Is that where I messed up?
Thank you!
Hello! The recipe is correct, so that’s indeed where you went wrong. You can see my comment about the flour in this comment. I’m sorry about that! I’m not sure of how else to list it to divide it up properly.
Cool creative spooky cookies.
I’m going to bake some today. Can I put the jam on and then the almond nail before I bake them?
Thanks! It’s been a long time since I posted these but I think I tested out both versions (putting on the jam before and after baking) and they looked nicer when you add the jam afterwards. Hope you’ll enjoy the cookies!
Love these! So cute and creepy.
Hi,can i use unsalted,salted or sweet butter?
I used unsalted but any kind will work fine!
Hi Erin, can I use an image and link to your recipe for our Halloween food round up for http://www.theculturetrip.com
Of course! Thanks for asking. :)
These devilish digits are so finger licking good. Thanks so much for the Wonderful recipe!
So happy you liked them! Thanks a bunch for your feedback. :)
I am new at pinterest, so I am hoping this works. The flour was listed twice on the recipe. Was that a type o or was that how much flour to actually use? Thanks.
Your comment worked (but you’re no longer on Pinterest. ;)) The flour isn’t a typo. You can either use all all-purpose flour or white whole wheat (2 2/3 cups total) or you can use a mix of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour, if you want. I separated it like that because I don’t recommend using all traditional whole wheat flour, because these will taste very wheaty. My favorite way is with all white whole wheat – it’s all the nutrition of regular whole wheat but not so wheat-y tasting! I hope that makes sense. :)
I made these for our school staff luncheon and they were a hit! Everyone loved the look, and they weren’t overly sweet. I also jokingly said “Arthritic” fingers made arthritic fingers. (Not far from the the truth)
Haha. Well, I’m happy that everyone enjoyed them! And what a fun thing to bring for the school staff. :) Thank you so much for the feedback!
These look SOOO awesome! I've seen these witch finger cookies before, but they have never looked this good! Or bad. I'm not sure how to say that, but hopefully you know what I mean. These are awesome :D
Ooh, thank you! I know exactly what you mean. :) What a compliment!
Great job with these! Super fun, and the strawberry jam sounds like the perfect dipper!
Thanks! I loved it. Normally dip is full of weird ingredients… but not this one. Yay!
Uuhh..spooky! But shortbread with strawberry jam sounds soo yummy! And I totally miss having those little vials for flavorings. I know they can be awkward to handle, but somehow they always bring up nostalgic childhood memories of Christmas cookie baking.
Really?! I miss the extracts! Although I have a feeling that these are stronger. And I do like that. I can send you some vials if you like. :)
Yeah, they are quite strong. I think it's only my nostalgia that makes me miss them. I am oven-less again at the moment, so wouldn't have much use for them, but thank you :D
They actually look delicious, weird as it may sound, lol. I love shortbread and almonds so this is a winner for me. And love the blood too!
Haha. Thanks! Happy you think they look delicious. They at least taste that way!
Oh my gosh, these are SO cool! I can't believe you made these, you are so talented!!
Thank you. :D
They look great, how about painting the nails :-))))
Aww, man. Where were you and Loretta from above when I was making these?! You two are genius! Next time I'm definitely painting the nails and making boils. Yuck.
These are awesome….they really look real with the strawberry jam :-) My kids would love them!!
I bet you could make them even healthier and your kids would still love them!
Wow, those do look nasty! It would be sweet if some of them had boils as well. Blah! I bet they taste great, though!
OH NO! Boils! Nooooo. Why didn't I think of that?! You're genius.
oh my gosh those look crazy real…lol that would be funny to eat.
I think some people were so disgusted that they refused to eat them!
These are so awesome Erin! I love how creepy they are!
Thanks! :)
these are totally creeping me out!!! I LOVE THEM! so fun.
I've never been prouder to creep people out! Thanks!
I love your healthy makeover of these. Such a great Halloween treat.
I wouldn't call them healthy exactly but I suppose they're a little better. :)
These are AwEsOmE!!! I love them… And using jam sounds soo much better than gel. I am glad you decided to post these. Plain awesomeness!!! :-D Happy Halloween!
Thank you! And happy Halloween to you, too! :)
They are, in fact, disgusting, but in the best possible way!! =)
Haha, thanks!
Oh my gosh these are adorable, I can't believe how real they look. Amazing job, Erin!
Thank you, Cassie! :)
Yes, it's kind of creepy looking, but that's the fun of Halloween. I bet they were a lit at the party, and I like the idea of dipping cookies into jam :) It sounds tasty :)
They were! People were all, "EWW!" and "OH MY GOSH!" and a lot of people were even raving about the cookie themselves. I liked them too, but you know, I'm a chewy cookie girl. :)