Calavera Sugar Cookies

Day of the Dead is a great time to teach your kids about this cultural tradition. Cooking together facilitates time to talk! Make these beautiful sugar cookies and decorate them as black and white calaveras while you talk about the holiday's traditions such as how to build a Day of the Dead altar, how to make sugar skulls to adorn your altar de muertos, and traditional recipes to make for Day of the Dead.

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RECIPE: Calavera Sugar Cookies

Roll-out sugar cookie recipe

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter,softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into 2 balls.
3. On floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. diameter x 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 8-11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
4. Yields about 3 dozen 3-inch cookies.

Color flow icing recipe

• 1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon water
• 1 pound (4 cups) confectioner’s sugar sifted
• 2 tablespoons Color Flow Mix

*See full directions for color flow icing here. Yields about 2 cups of icing.

1. Outline and flow in cookies one day in advance. Tint half of icing black. Use tip 3 and full-strength black or white icing to outline skull. Use thinned black or white icing in cut decorating bag to flow in. Let dry overnight. Reserve remaining icing.
2. Decorate cookies. Use tip 2 and full-strength black or white icing to pipe details including dots, scrolls, beads and bead flowers. Let dry several hours.

Recipe and photo provided by Wilton