Witch Finger Cookies (without food coloring!)

These witch finger cookies use jam in place of food coloring for “blood” in these gory Halloween cookies. Post was updated in 2021 (originally posted in 2011) with new photos and a fantastic gluten-free option.

If you’re preparing for a Halloween party, these witch fingers are perfectly bewitching finger food. People freak out over them, so be sure to have plenty for everyone.

If you need a witches brew to serve alongside these cookies, I’ve got you covered with this non-alcoholic Witches’ Brew Drink and this Witches’ Brew Cocktail.

Most all other witch finger cookie recipes that I’ve found use red decorating gel. Food coloring doesn’t normally bother me all that much, but the thought of eating red decorating gel makes me queasy for whatever reason.

I’ve struggled in the past to come up with Halloween desserts that are totally free of processed food, so I was ridiculously happy to have come across these, and decorating with strawberry jam makes these cookies extra delicious.

Ingredients

• Butter – subs won’t work. Coconut oil and other types of oil are 100% fat and would cause the fingers to spread and not hold their shape. If you need a dairy-free recipe for Halloween, you could try this Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake and top it with little spiders or pipe on a spiderweb.
• Powdered sugar – I’ve only tried these with powdered sugar so can’t say for sure if they’d work if you sub in granulated sugar.
• Granulated sugar – optional! If you’re making these for adults who like not-very-sweet treats, then you don’t need it. If you’re making these for kids who are used to regularly sweetened treats, then you’ll definitely want to use the extra sugar.
• Egg – I don’t think an egg sub would work, though I could be wrong. You really need to follow the recipe 100% so that the cookies hold their shape perfectly.
• Vanilla and almond extracts – I just love almond extract with strawberry jam, but if you’re nut-free or don’t have almond extract, you can sub vanilla extract. I also think the almond extract adds a LOT to this recipe so please don’t omit it unless you really have to.
• Flour – you can use all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour. Read below and the recipe notes for the gluten-free option.
• Almonds – these are to create the fingernails. There are more ideas below.
• Strawberry jam – this takes the place of red decorating gel. It’s all natural, plus it tastes way better than decorating gel! Raspberry jam would also be great but for the blood effect, but I think strawberry is better. 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 gross blood clots. It could also be an interesting way to have them all to yourself. :D.
• Salt

Other fingernail ideas

I think blanched almonds are the best looking, but you could also use:

• Sunflower seeds for a nut-free option (if nut-free, also use vanilla in place of almond extract)
• Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) – not roasted pepitas, but raw ones.
• Peanut halves
• Blanched sliced almonds

How to make Witch Finger Cookies

Make the dough. It’s a basic, easy cookie dough. You beat together the wet ingredients, then stir in the flour.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to make the witch fingers easier to form and to ensure they hold their shape better in the oven.

Roll out the fingers about the size of your pinky. The dough holds its shape pretty well in the oven, but spreads a tiny bit. So if anything, make them a little thinner than you’d like them to look.

Press down the almond tip for the nails. If you don’t want to use almonds, use one of the above ideas.

Squeeze around the middle to form the knuckles. Use a sharp knife for the wrinkles in the knuckles and vary the length (which I forgot to do myself). That’ll create a more realistic finger.

Place on a baking sheet and bake. Let them cool completely on the sheet.

Add the jam, plate and serve! Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.

What do these cookies taste like?

These witch fingers are like a cross between shortbread and butter cookies, with a sable texture and imbrued with strawberry jam. They’re just slightly sweet (if you don’t add the extra granulated sugar) and have a great taste thanks to the almond extract.

I’m not a crunchy cookie kind of girl. I think out of all my cookie recipes, there’s only one other one that’s not chewy – these Whole Wheat Pepparkakor (Swedish Ginger Cookies, like the brand Anna’s).

But with the added optional granulated sugar in this recipe, as I have quite a sweet tooth, I’m happy with these crisp cookies.

Gluten-free option

I’m thrilled to finally offer a gluten-free option for this recipe. And it’s actually delicious!

I spent FOREVER trying to convert this recipe to be gluten-free. The results weren’t good.

If you just use a gluten-free baking blend in place of the all-purpose or white whole wheat flour, the cookies won’t have a great texture. They’ll be sandy, spread too much and form little cracks on the top.

I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-free Baking Flour, but I am pretty confident you’d have the same results with other types of gluten-free flour.

I didn’t have much hope for my Almond Flour Sugar Cookies dough working to form these witch’s fingers, but I tried anyway. Those were some funky-looking ogre fingers.

So I tried different gluten-free shortbread recipes that I found, but I didn’t like any of them.

But I finally came up with a recipe that works. They don’t hold their shape 100% perfectly like the wheat-based version, but they still look great.

Here’s an ugly, quick cell phone photo, just so you know what they look like. :) All I had at the last minute were some broken-up cashews. Almonds definitely look better!

If you google gluten-free witch fingers, you’ll see that absolutely all of the results have these little cracks in them. But they don’t make the cookies any less impressive!

The gluten-free version isn’t just the wheat version with gluten-free flour. It’s a totally different recipe.

The secret is almond flour! When using just a gluten-free baking blend, the cookies spread too much. If you add more flour to hopefully stiffen them up, the texture suffers.

Adding 2/3 cup of almond flour is just what was needed to firm them up and keep the taste great. There’s no substitute for it, so you really do need it for this recipe.

If you’re thinking you don’t want to buy it for just this recipe, I have loads of almond flour recipes that you could make with it.

Photos updated 10/2021. Here’s an old photo from 2012 for the people trying to figure out if this is the recipe they made in the past. :)

Witch Finger Cookies (without food coloring!)

Author Erin Dooner

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 60 cookies

5 from 14 votes

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

These Witch Finger Cookies use jam in place of food coloring for “blood” in these gory Halloween cookies. With a fantastic gluten-free option.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (226 grams) butter softened
• ▢ 1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar highly recommended if you'd like a regularly-sweetened cookie
• ▢ 1 large egg 50 grams, out of shell
• ▢ 1 teaspoon almond extract
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 2/3 cups (334 grams) flour see notes
• ▢ 3/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3/4 cup (105 grams) almonds blanched
• ▢ 1/2 – 1 cup (118 to 236 ml) strawberry jam

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar (and granulated sugar, if using) together until fluffy. Add the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix. When well combined, add the flour and salt.
  1 cup (226 grams) butter, 1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 2/3 cups (334 grams) flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt
• When thoroughly combined, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes or up to 2 days.
• Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of paper.
• Take about a fourth of the dough out of the fridge and begin rolling out the fingers. I recommend baking one test finger to begin with. Then you can make sure all the fingers come out the way you want them to. That way you don’t spend all your time rolling out all the cookies only to find out that you should have made them thinner or done the wrinkles a different way.
• I rolled them out the thickness of my pinky finger, but a bit longer.
• Add an almond to the tip for the fingernail, and press down to make sure it’s secure.
  3/4 cup (105 grams) almonds
• Form a knuckle by squeezing around the middle.
• Use a sharp knife for the wrinkles in the knuckles and vary the length. That’ll create a more realistic finger.
• Place on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving about an inch (2.5cm) 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 on the sheet, 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 the knuckles for extra nastiness. I used about 1/2 cup jam and used the rest as “dip.”
  1/2 – 1 cup (118 to 236 ml) strawberry jam
• Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Video

Notes

• For the flour, you can use all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour (or a mix of the two) or for a gluten-free version, see below.

 

• This is the recipe for the gluten-free version:
  • 1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 2/3 cups (367 grams) Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
  • 2/3 cup (66 grams) blanched almond flour
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the almond + vanilla extracts and salt. Beat in the two flours until thoroughly combined. You’ll now have crumbs.
• Use your hands to “knead” the dough a bit until it starts to form a dough. Keep mixing until you have a dough. Refrigerate for up to 5 days or start baking, using the above directions.
• I didn’t need to chill the gluten-free dough. It’s important to let these cool completely and sit for about 2 hours before transporting. They’re very fragile straight out of the oven.
  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.

Nutrition

Calories: 81kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 56mgPotassium: 23mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 99IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 0.4mgNet Carbs: 10

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