Sugar Skull Cookies

I am so excited about this recipe! I saw some sugar skull candies at the grocery store a few weeks ago among all of the Halloween goodies. The candies totally caught my eye and have had me brain storming ever since, on how to make my own sugar skull treats. The Mexican holiday The Day of the Dead, is celebrated on the first two days of November. Altars are decorated to remember loved ones that have passed away and no altar is complete with out a fancy colorful skull made from sugar. After thinking forever about how I was going to make skulls, it finally dawned on me to make meringue cookies and using a pastry bag pipe them into skull shapes. Brilliant! It worked great! Then to decorate them, I bought Betty Crocker Easy Writer pens. They are awesome! The pens are made to write on top of cakes so the tips are really soft and delicate. They are basically food coloring in a marker form. The kids and I searched online for images of the sugar skulls to get ideas on how to color them. It turned out to be a super fun activity and I love how they look! Perfect for any Halloween or Day of the Dead celebration!

2 egg whites

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup of sugar

Easy Writers (found in the baking isle with food coloring and sprinkles)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set to the side. In a mixing bowl beat the egg whites with the salt, cream of tartar and vanilla. Once the egg whites are smooth and frothy add in the sugar and continue to whisk until soft peaks form. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a round tip (or a large zip lock bag with the corner snipped off). On your prepared cookie sheets make about 6 skulls per tray, about 3 inches in size. The cookies will expand as they bake so make sure to leave space between them. Try to pipe a light bulb shape and then fill in the middle. Be sure to make them in a thin even layer to prevent any cracks. Bake them for about 20 minutes and once they have cooled decorate them with the food coloring pens. Have fun!