Halloween Sugar Cookies

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl using a hand or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy (about 2 minutes on medium-high speed).
3. Scrape down the bowl and pour in the oil. Mix for about a minute to incorporate.
4. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix on medium-high speed for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Dump in the dry ingredients and mix on medium-low speed just until incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and give the bowl one more mix by hand to make sure everything is well combined.
6. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
7. Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. To make the pumpkin dough, use a large cookie scoop (3 tbsp worth) to scoop out one ball. Roll it between your hands and shape into a long oval. Place the oval on the baking sheet and lightly press it flat with your palm. Then take a small piece of dough and mold it to the top of the oval to make the pumpkin stem (see post for pictures of each shape).
9. To make the ghost, scoop another ball and roll it between your hands. Shape it into a teardrop and place it on the baking sheet at a diagonal. Lightly press it flat with your palm and then grab two small chunks of dough. Place a piece of dough on either side of the tear drop and mold it into the shape.
10. To make the black cat, scoop a ball and roll it between your hands. Place in on the baking sheet and lightly press flat with your palm. Take two small pieces of dough and place at the top of the ball to mold into pointy cat ears.
11. You should be able to fit about 4 cookies on the baking sheet. Place the remaining dough in the refrigerator.
12. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden on the edges with a puffed and slightly underdone center. Right when they’re pulled from the oven, use a butter knife or your fingers (carefully) to reinforce the shapes if they seem to have spread too much.
13. Transfer to a cooling rack and continue baking the rest of the dough.

Vanilla Buttercream

1. When the cookies have completely cooled, make the frosting.
2. Using a hand or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix until smooth.
3. Add in the remaining sugar along with the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk. Mix to combine.
4. If the frosting appears too thick, mix in the remaining tablespoon of milk if needed.
5. To decorate – first spread a layer of the plain white frosting onto each ghost cookie.
6. Once all the ghosts are covered, scoop out a small amount of frosting from the bowl and place in a small dish. Drop in some green gel food coloring as this well be for the pumpkin stems and cat eyes.
7. Spread a stem onto each pumpkin. Transfer the rest of the green to a piping bag fitted with a small tip and set it aside (this will be for the cat eyes).
8. Now scoop a little less than half of the frosting from the bowl and place into a separate dish. Drop in some orange food coloring and mix. Spread the frosting onto all of the pumpkin cookies.
9. Then scoop almost all of the remaining frosting into a separate bowl, leaving a small amount (about 1/4 cup) of white behind. If you have any remaining orange frosting, you can also add this into the bowl where we will be making the black frosting.
10. In this separate bowl of frosting, add in black gel food coloring and 1 tablespoon of black cocoa powder. Mix and add more food coloring or more cocoa powder as needed to create a deep color.
11. Frost all of the black cat cookies and then pipe on the green eyes. Transfer the leftover black frosting to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
12. Pipe on the ghost and jack-o-lantern faces. There should still be some leftover black frosting so squeeze the rest into a dish and mix with the remaining white frosting to create a gray color.
13. Transfer the gray frosting to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and pipe on the center of the cat eyes as well as the nose, mouth, and whiskers.
14. Top with sprinkles if desired and enjoy!