Witch Finger Cookies (Without Food Coloring!)

These witch finger cookies are crisp, buttery Halloween cookies shaped like creepy fingers, with almond fingernails and strawberry jam for the “blood.” There’s no red decorating gel needed, and I’ve included a separately tested gluten-free version below.

The knuckles, almond nails and jam around the nail beds make them plenty creepy, but they’re surprisingly easy to shape once the dough is chilled. You can also prepare them ahead of time, which makes them great for Halloween parties.

If you need a witches’ brew to serve alongside the cookies, try this non-alcoholic witches’ brew drink or this witches’ brew cocktail.

A lot of witch finger cookie recipes use red decorating gel around the nails. I prefer strawberry jam because you still get the gory blood effect, but it actually adds something delicious to the cookie.

A fairly smooth strawberry jam works best so it’s easy to dab under the almonds and around the knuckles. You can use store-bought jam or my strawberry jam. Raspberry jam also works.

Ingredients

• Butter – don’t substitute coconut oil or another oil. The cookies are designed to hold the finger shape, and changing the fat can cause them to spread and lose the details.
• Powdered sugar – I’ve only tested these with powdered sugar, so I don’t recommend replacing it with granulated sugar.
• Granulated sugar – this is optional, but I highly recommend it if you want a normally sweet cookie. Without it, the cookies are only lightly sweetened.
• Egg – use a large egg, about 50 grams out of the shell. I haven’t tested an egg substitute in the regular version, and I wouldn’t recommend experimenting here because the dough needs to hold its shape well.
• Vanilla and almond extracts – almond extract is especially good with the strawberry jam and adds a lot of flavor. If you need the regular version to be nut-free, use additional vanilla extract instead.
• Flour – all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour or a combination of the two work. Don’t simply replace the flour with a gluten-free baking blend. The tested gluten-free version uses a different formula, which you’ll find below and in the recipe card.
• Almonds – blanched almonds make the most realistic fingernails, but there are several alternatives listed below.
• Strawberry jam – this replaces red decorating gel. Choose a jam without very large pieces of fruit so it’s easy to use around the almond nails. Raspberry jam also works well.

Other fingernail ideas

I think blanched almonds look the most realistic, but you can also use:

• Sunflower seeds for a nut-free version. Also replace the almond extract with vanilla
• Raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds), rather than roasted pepitas
• Peanut halves
• Blanched sliced almonds

How to make witch finger cookies

Start by beating together the butter and sugars, followed by the egg and extracts. Mix in the flour and salt just until you have a uniform dough.

Cover and refrigerate the dough for 40 minutes. Chilling makes it much easier to shape and helps the cookies keep their finger shape in the oven.

Work with about one-fourth of the dough at a time, leaving the rest refrigerated. I strongly recommend shaping and baking one test finger before forming the whole batch. That way, you can see exactly how much your dough spreads and whether you want to make the remaining fingers thinner or change the knuckle details.

Roll the dough to about the thickness of your pinky finger, but make the fingers slightly thinner than you want the baked cookies to be because they spread a little. Vary the lengths slightly for more realistic-looking fingers.

Press an almond firmly into one end of each finger for the nail. If you’re not using almonds, one of the alternatives above can be used instead.

Pinch the dough around the middle to form a knuckle. Then use a small, sharp knife to make shallow lines across the knuckle. Vary the length of the lines rather than making them perfectly even so the fingers look more realistic.

Arrange the fingers about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 325 °F (165 °C) for 17-22 minutes, or until they’re just lightly golden. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet.

Once they’re cool, gently remove each almond. Spoon a little strawberry jam into the indentation, replace the almond and press just enough for some jam to ooze around the nail. Add more jam around the knuckles if you want them extra gory.

What do witch finger cookies taste like?

These witch fingers are somewhere between shortbread and butter cookies. They’re crisp and buttery, with almond and vanilla flavor and strawberry jam.

Without the optional granulated sugar, they’re only lightly sweet. I prefer adding it for a more normally sweet cookie, especially if you’re making them for kids or a Halloween party.

Gluten-free option

The gluten-free witch fingers require their own formula. Simply replacing the all-purpose or white whole wheat flour with a gluten-free baking blend didn’t work well in my testing.

When I used a gluten-free blend by itself, the cookies were sandy, spread too much and developed little cracks. Adding more baking blend to make the dough firmer only made the texture worse.

The solution was blanched almond flour. I originally made the gluten-free version with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-free Baking Flour plus 2/3 cup (66 grams) almond flour. The almond flour firms up the dough without giving the cookies that sandy texture.

I later tested the recipe with 2 2/3 cups (333 grams) King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour and 1 egg white, and that batch came out looking even better. That’s now the primary gluten-free version in the recipe notes, but I’ve included the original Bob’s version there as well.

The gluten-free fingers don’t hold every little detail quite as perfectly as the wheat version, and you may see some small cracks, but they still look great.

The gluten-free cookies in the photo above were made with the Bob’s Red Mill version and broken pieces of cashews because that’s what I had on hand. Blanched almonds make much more convincing fingernails.

The gluten-free dough didn’t need chilling in my testing. The baked cookies are very fragile while they’re still warm, though, so let them cool completely and sit for about 2 hours before transporting them.

There’s no substitute for the almond flour in the gluten-free version, so you really do need it for this recipe. If you’re wondering what to do with the rest of the bag, I have lots of almond flour recipes.

This recipe was originally published in 2011. The photos were updated in October 2021. I’m keeping the old photo below for longtime readers who are trying to figure out whether this is the witch finger recipe they made years ago. :)

Witch Finger Cookies (without food coloring!)

Author Erin Dooner

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 60 cookies

5 from 16 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 are crisp, buttery Halloween cookies with almond fingernails and strawberry jam “blood” – no red decorating gel needed. Includes a separately tested gluten-free version.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted 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) all-purpose flour see notes for gluten-free version
• ▢ 3/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3/4 cup (105 grams) blanched almonds
• ▢ 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.
  1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, 1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
• Add the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix.
  1 large egg, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• When well combined, add the flour and salt.
  2 2/3 cups (334 grams) all-purpose 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 parchment 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) blanched 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 (2.5 cm) 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

• Flour – you can use all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour or a mix of the two. For the gluten-free version, use the separate recipe below.

Gluten-free version

Ingredients

• 1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 2/3 cups (333 grams) King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour
• 2/3 cup (66 grams) blanched almond flour

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg white.

2. Beat in the almond and vanilla extracts and salt. Beat in the two flours until thoroughly combined. The mixture will look crumbly at first. Use your hands to knead the crumbs together until a dough forms. I didn’t need to chill the gluten-free dough.

3. You can refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days or shape the witch fingers right away, following the shaping directions above, including adding the almonds.

4. Bake at 325 °F (165 °C) for 17-22 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely, then add the strawberry jam as directed above. They’re very fragile straight out of the oven, so if you need to transport them, let them sit for about 2 hours first.

Bob’s Red Mill option: I also tested these with 2 2/3 cups (367 grams) Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and without the egg white. They worked well – those are the gluten-free cookies shown in the photos in the post – but the King Arthur version came out looking much better.

For readers in Germany: Use half Type 550 and half Type 405 for the flour in the regular version. I developed that version using US ingredients, and butter sold outside the US can also affect how much the cookies spread, so I recommend baking one test finger before shaping the whole batch. 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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