Our Favorite Disney Sweet for National Cookie Month

Who knew that October is National Cookie Month? It’s the perfect excuse to bake a warm, sugary batch, and just in time for Halloween, we’re sharing this easy sugar cookie from Tony’s Town Square in the Magic Kingdom Park that you can decorate a la Jack Skellington from the blockbuster animated film, “Nightmare Before Christmas.”

A trick for this treat: use slice-and-bake cookie dough instead of starting from scratch. Happy Halloween!

Jack Skellington Sugar Cookies

Makes 18 cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing
2 egg whites
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Black food coloring paste

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three parts. Once dough comes together, cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400°F.
4. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a round cookie cutter or an overturned cup, cut dough into circles about 3 1/4 inches in diameter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before icing.

For icing:

1. Place egg whites in bowl of an electric mixer; whisk until frothy. Add confectioners’ sugar a little at a time, until thick but still spreadable.
2. Place 1/3 of icing in a separate bowl. Add black food coloring paste to reserved icing and stir until color is uniform.
3. Decorate cooled cookies by covering with white icing and letting it dry (placing cookies in the refrigerator will speed up this process).
4. Place black icing in a pastry bag or a plastic resealable bag and cut off a tiny bit of the corner to create a very small hole. Use black icing to draw eyes, nostrils and stitched mouth on each cookie.