MELTED WITCH COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cut the VERY cold (right out of fridge) butter with a knife into 1-inch cubes. Place in the stand mixer with the sugar. Beat until completely creamy and "light + fluffy".
• Add in the egg, Mexican vanilla extract, almond extract, and orange extract. Beat until completely combined.
• Add in the cornstarch, baking powder, and 1 cup of flour. Beat until completely combined scraping the edges as needed. Add in the next cup and beat until a dough forms. Add in the final 3/4 cup adding an additional 1/4 cup as needed for a dough that is firm enough to be cut out into shapes (or a circle).
• If the dough looks crumbly, keep beating until a dough does form (it will form even though it looks like straight crumbles!!) and if needed knead it with your hands. Just be careful to not overwork the dough as that leads to tough cookies.
• In between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper, roll out the dough to about 1/2" thickness. Cut out the cookies and place on a parchment or silicone lined tray.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes watching carefully for when they slightly brown at the edges/bottom. Be careful to not overbake - the center should still look soft and not be brown at all. Under-baking slightly is huge for the flavor and texture of these cookies.
• Allow to cool on a cooling rack for about 2 minutes. Then place the cookies in a single layer (or separated with wax paper) in a large re-sealable bag. Seal the bag to keep the moisture in and the cookies ultra soft. Remove when cooled and ready to frost.
• Follow directions to make royal icing or make your favorite frosting and dye it green. (I use an icing bag fitted with a #2 tip to pipe the outline of the puddle and to attach the broom + witch hat. Then I use a small bottle to flood the inside of my puddle outline. If you've never used royal icing, here's a tutorial I love.)
• Either pipe and flood (using royal icing) or frost (using regular frosting) a "puddle" shape onto each cookie and let it dry completely.
• Using leftover royal icing or frosting, attach a pretzel stick to one side of the cookie. Carefully piece each chow mein noodle to the bottom end of the pretzel to look like the base of the broom. Again, use the royal icing to attach the chow mein noodles.
• While waiting for the puddle on the cookies to dry (if you did royal icing), make the witch hats.
• In a small microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips and the vegetable oil. Microwave in bursts of 15 seconds stirring for 15 seconds in between each burst until the chocolate is melted.
• Using dipping tools or a fork to help you, dip the bugle in the chocolate and shake off the excess chocolate. Separate an oreo cookie and remove the frosting. Dip one of the cookie sides in the chocolate and attach the chocolate-covered bugle to the now chocolate covered cookie.
• Set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to allow to set up. Attach using leftover frosting or royal icing.