Countdown to Halloween - Day 1 - Candy Corn Theme

For the past few years, we have done a Countdown to Halloween. Normally, I did the countdown for 13 days leading up the Halloween. This year, we're doing the week leading up to Halloween.

Today's theme was "Candy Corn." I found a pin on Pinterest for Candy Corn Sugar Cookies that led to Kathie Cooks.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar because I didn't have any white sugar)
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest (I didn't use this)
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Red food dye
Yellow food dye
1/2 cup granulated sugar for dusting (I didn't use this because I didn't have any white sugar)

Directions:

Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy.

Add egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed.

Add flour and baking soda, beat until well mixed.

Divide dough into thirds. Press one-third of the white dough evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan that you have lined with foil, wax, or parchment paper.

Place another one-third of the dough into a bowl and add yellow and red food dye to make orange (refer to the chart on the back of your box).

Once it is mixed evenly, press orange dough evenly over white dough.

In another bowl, add the final amount of dough and dye yellow. Press that evenly over the orange dough.

Cover and refrigerate until firm (2 hours or overnight is best). Once chilled, invert your loaf pan and unwrap your dough. Flip it back over and place it on a cutting board.

Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife, trimming edges to make even, if necessary. Cut each slice into 6 wedges. Remember that the widest part of the cookies should be yellow and the narrowest part should be white.

Place 1-inch apart onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven (my cookies only took 7 minutes).

Place cookies straight into a bowl with sugar and coat. Place coated cookies on a baking rack to cool.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everyone was intrigued with how the cookies looked like a bigger version of candy corn. They wondered how they were made which made them all the more interesting.

The taste was good - kind of like shortbread - and didn't seem to be any different in flavor with the brown sugar. The only difference, most likely, was that the colors were slightly darker because of using brown sugar instead of white sugar.

We would make these cookies again. Perhaps next year on one of the days before Halloween.