These Halloween spiced skeleton cookies are so delicious, tender, and full of warm flavors. The brightly decorated skulls are inspired by the sugar skulls that are crafted in Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead.
These spiced Halloween skeleton cookies are so delicious, tender, and full of warm flavors. They are the cutest skeleton gingerbread men, actually – and you’re going to love the look as much as the taste!
The brightly decorated skulls are inspired by the sugar skulls that are crafted in Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead.
Hence, these work for both Day of the Dead and Halloween. So if you celebrate both, these cookies are a perfect treat.
I love the spicy, earthy flavor the seasonings bring to these spiced skeleton cookies. They are also gorgeous for a party display, or for wrapping as handmade gifts.
It’s so much fun to decorate these beauties, too. If you’re feeling intimidated by royal icing – don’t worry! There are so many ways to decorate these skeleton gingerbread man cookies without it, too.
Don’t miss these darling Halloween Matcha Cookies, Copycat Crumbl Pumpkin Cake Cookies and Spider Oreos if you’re looking for more fall inspiration!
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Why You’ll Love these Skeleton Cookies
- Pantry Ingredients (+ butter and egg)
- Full of Fall Flavors
- Great for Halloween Parties
- Perfect for Day of the Dead Celebrations, too
Helpful Tools
- Mixer – Stand mixer or hand mixer.
- Rolling Pin – I like a classic wooden rolling pin.
- Cookie Sheet or Flat Baking Sheet – A traditional cookie sheet has no sides, allowing you to slide cookies off without ruining their shape after baking. A flat baking sheet works too.
- Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutter
- Parchment Paper – Use parchment or a silpat for easy clean-up.
- Cooling Rack – While not required, it’s nice to remove your cookies to a cooling rack so air can circulate and they won’t continue to cook on the sheet!
Halloween Skeleton Cookie Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Cloves
- Ground Cardamom
- Ground Ginger
- Butter – Unsalted, softened
- Dark brown sugar – Packed
- Eggs – Size Large
- Vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- Egg whites
- Powdered sugar
- Gel Food Coloring – Black, orange, purple, yellow, green, and blue (or any bright colors of your choice)
- Optional – You can add 1 tsp of vanilla extract in the icing if you like for an added flavor.
How to Make these Skeleton Cookies
The full printable recipe is below.
- Preheat your oven to 350F, line your baking tray with parchment paper, and keep aside.
- Take a large bowl and mix dry ingredients.
- In a stand mixer (you can also use the hand mixer for this) mix wet ingredients as directed.
- Flatten the dough to form a disc and refrigerate. Once chilled, roll out the dough and cut out shapes with the gingerbread man cookie cutter.
- Place the cut-outs on the prepared baking tray and bake. Let the cookies cool before decorating.
Make Royal Icing and Decorate Your Cookies
- Use a whip attachment on your stand mixer and beat until egg whites are foamy.
- Lower the speed and add the sugar as directed.
- Add gel food color, and put all the icings in different icing bags.
- Pipe the bones and outline of the skull first with the white icing. Flood the outlined skull with white icing and use a toothpick to spread the icing so it’s evenly filled. Let the icing set before decorating further.
- Decorate the skulls as I’ve done with bright color icing. It doesn’t have to be perfect; you can create your own patterns, just let your creativity flow!
- Serve and Enjoy! Happy Halloween!!
Tips
- Parchment paper works well for these cookies, but a silpat works well too.
- You can make the cookies ahead and decorate them later whenever you have time.
- Wait for the base icing to dry up completely before decorating the cookies with different colors, because the colors will mix with each other and spread if the background is still wet.
- If you are not into fancy decorating then you can just make the bones and skulls on the cookies and sprinkle some Halloween sprinkles while the icing is wet. Or you can even use edible marker colors to create fun patterns on your skeletons.
- The number of cookies will depend on how thick you roll the dough and the size of your cookie cutter.
- Double or triple the recipe using the 1x2x3x tab in the printable recipe card.
How to Store
- Room Temperature – Store in a sealed container for up to two days.
- Refrigerate – Store in an airtight container for up to four days.
- Freeze – You can freeze these cookies for up to two months in an airtight container or sealed Ziploc freezer bag. Separate layers with parchment paper.
Halloween Skeleton Cookies
These Halloween spiced skeleton cookies are so delicious, tender, and full of warm flavors. The brightly decorated skulls are inspired by the sugar skulls that are crafted in Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead.
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Cardamom , optional
- 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- ½ cup Unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup Dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 Egg, size large
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- 2 Egg whites, (the egg whites of two eggs)
- 3 cups Powdered sugar
- Food Coloring, black, orange, purple, yellow, green, and blue gel food color (or any bright colors of your choice)
Instructions
For the Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 350 F / 180 C, line your baking tray with parchment paper, and keep aside.
- Take a large bowl and mix flour, salt, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and ginger, and keep aside.
- In a stand mixer (you can also use the hand mixer for this) add in the butter, and brown sugar and beat it at medium speed, scraping down the sides for at least 2-3 min or until the mixture is creamy.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat until everything is incorporated well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches and mix till the dough is formed (the dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl).
- Flatten the dough to form a disc, wrap it with a cling wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Once chilled, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out shapes with the gingerbread man cookie cutter.
- Re-roll the scraps and repeat. Place the cut-outs on the prepared baking tray and bake for at least 10-12 min in a preheated oven.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes in the baking tray before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Icing
- Pour the egg white in a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment and beat on high till it foams up. (You can also use a hand mixer)
- Lower the speed and add the sugar in batches and beat till the mixture becomes thick and starts to hold peaks. Divide the icing into 7 parts.
- Leave one part as it is (white) and tint the other six parts with your favorite bright gel food colors (keep white icing more as that is our primary color and will be used more as compared to others).
- Put all the icings in different icing bags. Pipe the bones and outline of the skull first with the white icing.
- Flood the outlined skull with white icing and use a toothpick to spread the icing so it’s evenly filled. Let the icing set (dry) completely before decorating further.
- Decorate the skulls as I’ve done with bright color icing. It doesn’t have to be perfect; you can create your own patterns, just let your creativity flow!
- Serve and Enjoy! Happy Halloween!!
Notes
- Optional – You can add 1 tsp of vanilla extract in the icing if you like for an added flavor.
- Wait for the base icing to dry up completely before decorating the cookies with different colors, because the colors will mix with each other and spread if the background is still wet.
- If you are not into fancy decorating then you can just make the bones and skulls on the cookies and sprinkle some Halloween sprinkles while the icing is wet. Or you can even use edible marker colors to create fun patterns on your skeletons.
- The number of cookies will depend on how thick you roll the dough and the size of your cookie cutter.
- Double or triple the recipe using the 1x2x3x tab in the printable recipe card.
Nutrition
Calories: 229kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 2gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 50mgPotassium: 41mgFiber: 1gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 192IUVitamin C: 0.01mgCalcium: 13mgIron: 1mg
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