These deliciously disgusting Halloween eyeball cookies start with my no-fail sugar cookie dough, prepared in the Thermomix, then decorated with royal icing and lolly eyes. They are much easier to make than they look!
I love Halloween! Each year I get unnaturally excited about spooky recipes and costumes, and Facebook reminds me of my previous efforts. Those memories usually spur me on to go a little crazy all over again.
I am not the most creatively gifted person in the world, so my favourite Halloween treats are the ones that look impressive without requiring an art degree. These cookie eyeballs are an absolute cinch. The sugar cookies make a firm, sweet canvas for royal icing, and the lolly does most of the decorating for you. Voilà-one disgusting, delicious eyeball!
Why You'll Love These Halloween Eyeball Cookies
- Easy for kids to decorate: the royal icing works like glue, so there is no complicated piping.
- Perfect for making ahead: the dough can be chilled in advance and the finished cookies keep well.
- Made from scratch: both the sugar cookie dough and royal icing are made in the Thermomix.
- Deliciously disgusting: exactly what you want for Halloween or trick or treating.
What You Need for Sugar Cookie Eyeballs
- Sugar cookie dough: my no-fail dough holds its round shape and gives you a firm base for decorating.
- Royal icing: thick enough to stay in place and hold the lolly eye.
- Eyeball or "body parts" lollies: these are usually available from Big W and discount stores in the lead-up to Halloween.
- A piping bag and round tip: the Thermomix piping set or any equivalent piping bag will work.
How to Decorate Halloween Eyeball Cookies
- Allow the baked sugar cookies to cool completely before decorating them.
- Pipe a generous circle of royal icing into the centre of each cookie. Make the icing slightly wider than the lolly eye.
- Press one eyeball lolly gently into the wet icing.
- Leave the cookies uncovered until the royal icing has set, then transfer them to an airtight container.
Getting the Royal Icing Consistency Right
The icing needs to be thick enough to hold its shape but soft enough to pipe. If it spreads across the cookie, mix in a little more pure icing sugar. If it is too stiff to pipe comfortably, add lemon juice a drop at a time. Keep unused icing covered while you work because royal icing begins to set quickly.
Making Halloween Cookies Ahead
Flatten the sugar cookie dough before refrigerating it so it chills quickly and is easier to roll. You can prepare the dough in advance and keep it well wrapped in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. Once decorated and completely dry, store the cookies in an airtight container for up to one week.
A Fun Halloween Lunchbox Treat
I loved the opportunity to dress up for Halloween and take the kids trick-or-treating. In the weeks leading up to it, I would pop a cute but suitably ghastly homemade Halloween treat into Anais and Locky's lunchboxes. It helped build their excitement-and gave me an excuse to have a little Halloween fun myself!
Make sure the royal icing is completely dry before packing the cookies. I usually keep them in an airtight container and add one to the lunchbox in the morning so the lolly eye and icing stay intact.
More Fun Decorated Cookies
If Halloween baking has taken hold, try my Mummy Cookies for Halloween next. The same sort of easy decorating trick turns a gingerbread-man shape into a bandaged mummy. For Christmas, my Chocolate Reindeer Cookies are another fun Thermomix cookie project.
Easy Halloween Eyeball Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 170 g salted butter cut into cubes
- 150 g white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 285 g plain flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
Royal Icing
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 210 g pure icing sugar
Body Parts Halloween Candy
Instructions
- Place the butterfly whisk in the TM bowl.
- Add butter and sugar in TM Bowl. Cream 1 min/Speed 4.
- Scrape down the bowl.
- Add the egg and vanilla paste. Beat 15 sec/Speed 4.
- Remove the butterfly whisk.
- Add flour and baking powder. Select dough mode 20 sec.
- Scrape down the bowl. Select dough mode 20 sec.
- Divide the dough in half and wrap each ball in plastic wrap.
- Flatten the ball to 1 cm thickness and refrigerate until firm
- Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celsius
- Prepare a cookie slide with baking paper.
- Remove dough from the fridge and use a rolling pin to flatten to ¾ of a cm thickness.
- Use a circular cookie cutter to form shapes in the dough
- Transfer the cookies to the prepared tray.
- Bake 10-15 minutes. Leave on the cookie slide to cool fully.
Royal Icing
- Place butterfly whisk in TM Bowl.
- Add egg white and lemon juice to TM bowl. Beat 30 sec/Speed 4.
- Remove Butterfly and add icing sugar. Beat 20 sec/Speed 4.
- Scrape down the bowl. Beat 10 sec/Speed 4.
Assemble
- Place the royal icing into a piping bag with a medium size circular tip
- Pipe a large circle of icing in the middle of each cookie. The icing should be larger than the lolly eyes.
- Press an eyeball into the centre of the icing.
Notes
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Nutrition
If you make these Halloween eyeball cookies, please tag #ThermoKitchen on social media. Seeing your wonderfully ghastly creations really does make my day.
If you enjoyed the recipe, please come back and leave a rating or comment. It helps other cooks find the recipe and tells me which deliciously disgusting idea I should make next.
Happy Cooking
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