Dia de los Muertos Cakes (Day of the Dead Cookies)
CATEGORIES
INGREDIENTS
  • 1 C butter (softened)
  • 1/2 C powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 C flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 C ground pecans or almonds
  • brightly colored decorations (flower shaped are best)
  • additional powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
  2. Cream together, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla blend blend in remaining ingredients.
  3. Form dough into 1 in balls.
  4. Pinch the bottom of the dough ball to form a skull shape.
  5. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
  6. Use brightly colored flower decorations to make eyes, noses & mouths on the skulls. (at the time, I only had a couple of flower decorations left, so we used dinosaur decorations and just broke them to the sizes we needed)
  7. Bake 15 - 20 minutes, until set, but not browned.
  8. Cool slightly and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
  9. Cool on rack.
RECIPE BACKSTORY
My extremely busy teenage daughter came home one evening last year and asked me to make Pan de Muerto for her to take to their Day of the Dead celebration in her Spanish class the following day. I said... "Ummmm... NO... I need more notice than that" So she asked about Sugar Skulls, again I said no! Then I suggested I make Mexican Wedding Cakes, but shape & decorate them like skulls. I was pretty pleased with my creative idea and she said, "Sure whatever" So my son and I started making them up. They came out great! Her Spanish teacher thought they were wicked cool! Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday (Nov 1 & 2) that honors friends and family who have passed on.