Creepy Witches' Fingers

I LOVE Halloween! I found this recipe last year but never made it. I've seen the recipe in a few places this year, so somebody figured out this cookie was just too cute not to make. I think they came out great!

CREEPY WITCHES' FINGERS

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla

2 2/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup almonds, whole, blanched

2 tubes red decorator gel

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond and vanilla extracts. Beat in flour, baking soda, and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoon (I weighed it at 10 grams) of dough into finger shape for each cookie.

COOKIES WILL SPREAD, so for more realistic-looking fingers, roll thinly (mine measured about 2 1/2" x 3/8"). Press almond firmly into 1 end for the nail. Squeeze in center to create knuckle shape (squeeze almost until finger and thumb meet). Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle.

Place on lightly greased baking sheets (I used parchment paper); bake 20-25 minutes in a 325 oven until pale golden. When out, lift off almond as soon as you can touch it, squeeze red gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place, so gel oozes out from underneath. You can also make slashes in the finger and fill them with "blood." Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks.

Yield: approximately 5 dozen