Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies

5 from 1 vote

One batch of sugar cookies, 2 different Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies! These Jack Skellington Cookies & Sally Cookies are a fun project!

Prep Time1

Cook Time32

Chill time1

Total Time2 32

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American, Halloween

Servings: Cookies

Calories: 144kcal

Author: Marie Porter

In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.
Add in eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Add vanilla extract, and mix until well incorporated and smooth.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Carefully add this dry ingredient mix into wet ingredients, stirring until fully incorporated.
Divide dough ball in half, set one half aside. Divide the remaining half into 3 relatively equal portions.
Add yellow gel paste to one portion, gently knead in until well distributed. Wrap in plastic wrap, set aside.
Add a small amount of violet and pink gel to the second portion, knead until well distributed. Wrap in plastic, set aside.
Add a small amount of teal gel colour to the third dough ball, knead and wrap in plastic. Set aside.
For the remaining dough, you can either leave it plain, or dye it black.
To dye it black, add cocoa and a copious amount of black gel colouring to the remaining ½ of the dough, kneading well. Wrap in plastic.
Chill all 4 dough balls for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, line cookie sheets with parchment paper
On a floured work surface, roll plain (or black!) cookie dough out to about ¼″ thick (can be slightly thicker).
Use cookie cutters to cut out round cookies (about 2.5-3" diameter), placing on prepared cookie sheets.
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until bottoms look lightly golden.
Once the cookies are out of the oven, you can place a piece of parchment over top of the hot cookies and gently press another cookie sheet down - lightly - to flatten any distortion that may have happened during baking.
This is optional, but gives a very flat surface to decorate.
Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for at least 5 minutes before moving.
Cookies need to cool completely before decorating.

On a clean work surface, unwrap the yellow, pinky purple, and teal doughs.
Break each into about 6 pieces, then each of those in half again. Roll each into a smooth ball.
Place the coloured dough balls into a random pile, then squeeze and roll them into a log.
You don’t want to actually marble them, so don’t knead them together - just join them.
On a floured work surface, roll the cookie dough out to about ¼″ thick (can be slightly thicker).
Use cookie cutters to cut out square cookies (about 2.5-3" diameter).
You can position your cookie cutter to get nice patterns, but try to get the pieces cut as close together as possible.
Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, bake for 8-10 minutes, until the bottoms look lightly golden.
Once the cookies are out of the oven, you can place a piece of parchment over top of the hot cookies and gently press another cookie sheet down - lightly - to flatten any distortion that may have happened during baking.
This is optional, but gives a very flat surface to decorate.
Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for at least 5 minutes before moving.
Cookies need to cool completely before decorating.

Combine icing sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer - ideal - or large mixing bowl (to beat with an electric hand mixer)
Add water, mix on low speed until combined.
Turn speed up to high, beat for a couple minutes until thick, smooth, and glossy.
Check the frosting for consistency, adjust as needed for your intended usage.
You will want a fairly thick frosting – but still smooth and workable – for piping details and borders.
A good way to figure out if your frosting is the right consistency is to pull a spoon through the middle of the frosting bowl.
– If the frosting settles out in less than 5 seconds, it’s too runny. Add a little more powdered sugar.
– If the frosting settles out in 5-10 seconds, you’re good to go!
– If the frosting takes longer than 10 seconds to settle, it’s too thick. Add a little water or lemon juice and try again.

See the post for a photo walk through on decorating the cookies.
You’ll want to use white royal icing to cover the round cookies, then let them dry for several hours or overnight.
Then you’ll dye the remaining frosting black, and use that to pipe the details on both the Sally cookies and the Jack Skellington cookies.

Be sure to cover the royal icing whenever you're not using it - it starts to dry very quickly!