Eggless Halloween Mummy Shortbread cookies recipe

2014-10-24
  • Servings : 25-30
  • Prep Time : 2:00 h
  • Cook Time : 12m

My son loves food, and is happy when everyone else around him enjoys food as well. He is very sensitive too. He has always been really caring, since he was little.

I remember, he was about 3- 31/2 years old and we were walking home from school with a friend of his who was both lactose and gluten intolerant. He heard the friend’s mum tell me so, and said ‘Does that mean he can never drink strawberry milk or ice creams or eat Aloo paratha? That’s really sad. What does he drink then, if he can’t drink milk? I love milk so much.’  Both me and the friend’s Mum were really touched.

My little boy, now all of 9, still is the same.

Now that we are nearing Halloween, I was instructed to make cookies for his class, and not just any cookies- Mummy cookies, inspired by the latest episode of Dr Who- which he has recently been allowed to watch.

Also, the cookies had to be:

Eggless- for a dear friend who does not eat eggs,

Nutfree- because those are the school rules and

Gelatin free – so that everyone in the class can enjoy them.

I was categorically told that if I am not able to make eggless cookies, then I need to buy some eggless goodies for his friend, because nobody else cares when they send things to class and then his friend doesn’t get any. ‘It’s just not right. Not fair to him at all,’ he ranted. Lord bless his kind little heart.

So yesterday, Mummy dear was on a mission. Apart from cooking for our tiny little impromptu Diwali party, I had 32 cookies to bake- precisely. After several rounds of refrigerating and baking, by the time I hit the sack, I was almost a zombie. But the cookies are cute – scarily so 🙂

Do try them this Halloween.

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Ingredients

  • All purpose flour / Maida—150 gms
  • Cornflour—50 gms
  • Salt—a pinch
  • Unsalted butter—100 gms
  • Powdered sugar—50 gms
  • Vanilla essence—1 tsp

Ingredients for the Icing

Icing Sugar- 225 gms
Boiling water- 6-7 tbsp
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Method

Step 1

Sift the flour, cornflour and salt into a bowl or plate.

Step 2

In a large bowl, cream the butter for a few minutes. Add the sugar and beat until smooth about 5mins with a mixer/ handheld device or 10-12 minutes by hand. Add in the vanilla essence and mix well.

Step 3

Add the sifted flour to the butter sugar mixture and bring it to a dough. Flatten the dough into disk shape, wrap in a plastic cover and refrigerate for an hr.

Step 4

Roll out the dough about 1/4 inch thick on a flat surface. I like to do this on my wooden board with clingfilm on the top and bottom to prevent it from sticking.

Step 5

To make these mummy shapes, I just used my Christmas snowman cookie cutter. Refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes to firm up the dough so the cookies keep their shape.  

Step 6

While the cookies are resting in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 175deg C for 10mins.

Step 7

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes.

Step 8

These are shortcrust cookies, so they might be a bit soft to touch. But as you let them cool on the rack, they continue to cook and harden. Do bear in mind that they are very delicate and crumbly, so please handle with care.

Method for the Icing

Put the icing sugar in a bowl.. I think it makes sense to take about 75 gms sugar at a time, thats what I did. For one, you don’t know how many ‘helpers’ you get. With me, its always a joint effort, so helps to provide for another set of hands, but if you’re ok on your own, go for it. Just use it at one go.
Heat water in a sauce pan and add in by the tablespoon when it starts boiling. The sugar will at first clump up and stick to your spoon, you will to your surprise find that just maybe 2 1/2 to 3 tbsp are enough for about 100 gms of sugar. Mix as required to make a slightly runny icing that you can easily pipe over the mummies.
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With an icing bag, with a really small opening, ice the mummies. First do the legs, hands and then the head downwards. That I think is the best way to decorate it.
For scary eyes, you could use black icing or chocolate buttons. I didn’t make the eyes at all.
This is what the kids got today. I do hope they like it.
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So, go on then. Enjoy your Halloween.
Bake these cookies – you gotta make your kids proud.
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