October 2, 2013

Witches' Broomstick Cookies


Halloween. How do you celebrate Halloween? Do you bake? Decorate? Have parties? When I lived in the cities, I would decorate and hand out candy. In the 'burbs, we would have so many trick or treaters, there was never any risk of left over candy, it was just a matter of how much candy you wanted to buy! Back here in the sticks, I decorate for fun, mainly just for us. We get one or two trick or treaters each year, children we know.



This month, the cookie bakers from "Fill the Cookie Jar" were assigned a Halloween or "orange and black themed".  This was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be for me, and I almost backed out. The extent of Halloween cookies for me is typically sugar cookie cutouts, decorated in sprinkles.  But, I wanted to see if I could handle the challenge. I paged through ninety percent of my cookbooks with nothing that grabbed my attention.  Onward to the online search. I found some fun ideas, but not really recipes I would typically make. Finally, thanks again to Betty Crocker, I found the cutest Witches Broomsticks.  I think these would be super fun for some little gobblins to munch on. In our opinion, these did not have a long shelf life, so gobble them up with in a day or two of baking!



If you are interested in joining Fill The Cookie Jar group on facebook, fill out the form that can be found at Fill The Cookie Jar. Each month we bake a different theme for the cookie.  We bake, we share and we enjoy our cookies!


Witches' Broomstick Cookies   (Source:  Betty Crocker)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
10 pretzel rods, cut in half to about 4" in length
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp. shortening (Crisco)

Optional:
1/3 cup peanut butter chips, melted with one teaspoon of shortening
Halloween sprinkles


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix brown sugar, butter, water and vanilla in medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt. Shape dough into twenty balls, about 1 1/4 inch.
Lay pretzel rods on ungreased cookie sheet. Press ball of dough onto the  cut end of each pretzel. With a fork, press the dough to get the bristle look of the broom.  Bake about 12 minutes, until set but not brown.  Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely; about 30 minutes.

Place brooms on waxed paper. Heat shortening and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth; remove from heat. Carefully, spread melted chocolate over brooms, covering bottom portion of the pretzel rod, and the top portion of the broom.  Drizzle with melted peanut butter chips or cover with sprinkles
Let stand until chocolate is set. 
Store in airtight container for 1-2 days.

Sharing these at
Weekend Potluck 
Scrumptious Sundays 
What'd You Do This Weekend? 
Thursday's Treasures 
Saturday Dishes 
Foodie Friends Friday

20 comments:

  1. These are just the cutest things I've seen! I think the granddaughters and I have to make some of these! Thanks for sharing.

    Wishes for tasty dishes,
    Linda @Tumbleweed Contessa

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  2. Kris, these are adorable, and the photos are "bewitching", lol! These would liven up anyone's Halloween!

    Love, Joy
    Yesterfood

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  3. Thanks so much for taking the challenge and not backing out! I just love these broomstick cookies! I think the combination of salty and sweet is the best. Can't wait to see what you make next month!

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  4. When I saw these pictures I had to chuckle as this was exactly what I was going to make at first for this month's theme but at the last minute... yesterday I changed my mind.

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  5. I think these are the cutest cookies ever! We don't get any trick or treaters out here in the middle of the woods, but I just might have to make some of these for myself :)

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  6. These are so adorable and the kids just love treats like this. I've pinned and shared.

    Joanne/WineLady Cooks

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  7. I just the everything about these treats. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Kris....I LOVE these! Sweet and salty....and so clever! I don't think I could sculpt them to look as good as yours! (A lot going but I'm sending you an email this weekend.) Oh...and in my neighborhood....Halloween is bigger than Christmas! I just buy a boatload of candy.....and give out the Reese's cups last! ; - }

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  9. this is just too cute. you did a good job of making them look as realistic as possible! bonus--chocolate and peanut butter and pretzels make a great team.

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  10. These are just too stinkin' cute! No trick-or-treaters at the farm... so Halloween is a fairly low-key affair. :)

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  11. Those are so cute! Perfect for this month's Fill the Cookie Jar!

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  12. Spectacular cookies! I am amazed at what everyone is doing for Halloween. there isn't a big tradition of it in NZ - I usually just get a few wrapped sweeties in to give local children who stop by - but some year's there's only one or two groups!

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  13. They're soooo cute! Looks like we both had pretzel rods on the brain! xo

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  14. Heat shortening and chocolate chips? What shortening?

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    1. 2 teaspoons of shortening. I fixed it above. Thanks for checking.

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    2. Thank you so much! I just passed this adorable recipe along to my D-I-L to make for the granbaby! I like the sweet/salty anticipation!

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  15. These are tooooo cute! I must attempt to make these!
    www.prettybitchescancooktoo.com

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  16. These are absolutely adorable. What a great idea for a Halloween party. Thanks for sharing on Thursdays Treasures. These are a feature.

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  17. These are so cute, I am having a party soon for the kids and can use all ideas I can.

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