Candy Corn Cookies

What's your favorite Halloween candy?
I'm a Butterfingers lover (see this post for proof), Junior Mints fan and Raisinets snarfer.

For many it's not Halloween unless there's a big bowl of candy corn.
Did you know candy corn comes in all kinds of flavors now? I sent my daughter-in-college a bag of s'mores flavored candy corn. (Haven't gotten a report back yet.) I like the caramel flavored kind. They taste a little strange at first, but by the third one, you're hooked.

Here's another kind of candy corn all together.
Cookies!

These are easy to make and very cute. The taste is a classic butter cookie. You can flavor them with vanilla (which my kids would have preferred), almond extract or the orange zest the original recipe calls for. I've seen many recipes for these cookies, but Cathy at Wives With Knives posted this one and it seemed the simplest to me.

Candy Corn Cookies
adapted from Wives With Knives


1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsps. orange juice plus 2 tsps. orange zest
OR
1 1/2  tsps. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

 food coloring: yellow, orange (or make orange with yellow and red)

sanding sugar (optional)

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, until light and fluffy. Add egg, orange juice and zest (or vanilla). Mix well.
In another bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda, mixing well with a whisk. Add to butter mixture and mix until well combined.
NOTE: I do this a little at a time so the dry ingredients don't fly out all over the place.
Divide dough into three equal parts. Add yellow food coloring to the first part and blend well. Add orange food coloring (or mix of yellow and red) to the second part, blending well. Be sure to use plenty of food coloring as the colors fade when baked. Leave the third part plain.

Line a loaf pan with parchment or wax paper. Press the yellow dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Press the orange dough evenly over the yellow, then press the plain dough on top of that. Wrap the paper around the dough and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 375.
Remove dough from pan and paper. Slice into 1/4" slabs. Cut each slab into triangular pieces as shown.

Dip one side into sanding sugar, if desired (it adds a nice sparkle) and place on parchment or silicone lined cookie sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until lightly browned on the edges.