Monster Fingers for Halloween

The other night we had a bit of a Halloween "Do" for the sisters and elders in our care.  I know it was a bit early, but transfers are this week and we wanted to do it while the ones we have at the present are still here.  The next lot will have Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this lot gets Halloween.  They're not allowed out and about on Halloween or Bonfire night for their own safety, which is a good thing.  You can't take chances with these youngsters who are so far away from their kin and homes.  So we celebrated Halloween a week and a half early.  Nobody complained.

 

One treat I baked for them was these delicious Monster Fingers.   They were supposed to be witchy fingers . . .  but I though they spread out a bit too much for that.  Witches fingers are long, knobbly and skinny . . .  these were not.



These ended up being much fatter  . . .  but still quite gruesome once I added the red icing, don' tyou think???

 

One of our elders has had a sore toe/toenail for a few weeks now, and it was infected, so the kids ended up calling these "Elder Newman's Toes," which was even gruesomer!



In any case, a rose by any other name and all that  . . .  these are tasty.  Short, crisp, buttery and faintly flavoured with almond.  They went down a real treat.

*Monster Fingers*

Makes about 5 dozen

(depending on how large you make them)

Printable Recipe 

These are really tasty and very spooky!  Buttery and short, with just a hint of almond flavour. 

225g butter, softened (1 cup)

190g caster sugar (1 cup)

1 large free range egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

330g of plain flour (2 2/3 cups)

1 tsp salt

130g of whole  blanched almonds (3/4 cup)

red icing (in tub or tube) 

 

Preheat the oven to170*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Line several large baking sheets with baking paper.  Set aside. 

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.   Beat in the egg, salt and extracts.  Stir in the flour just to combine.  Shape tablespoonfuls of the dough into finger shapes, about 2 inches in length, and creating a bit of a nobbly knuckle about 1/3 of the way down.  Place onto the baking sheets.  Press one almond firmly into the upper third end of each "finger" to resemble a fingernail.  Using a sharp knife, gently score some slashes over the knuckle to make wrinkles.  Bake in the heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and crisp.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes,  Carefully remove the "fingernails" and apply some icing onto the nail bed, then put the fingernail back in place.  Place onto wire racks to cool completely and allow the icing to set. 

Note:  The nuts will be quite warm when you are removing them, but if you allow them to cool completely, they won't be moved easily, so it is best you do this while they are still quite warm.