Creepy Cookie Puzzle - Pin This One Right Now!

Creepy Cookie Puzzle – Pin This One Right Now!

October 18, 2021October 18, 2021 Tracy Knutsen

Are you planning a Halloween party? Having little ghosts, goblins, princesses and pirates at your house this year? If you’re looking for a unique party treat or super fun party activity, try this giant Creepy Cookie Puzzle. In the end, it’s treats for all!

Begin with just a couple of ingredients – a roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough and about a 1/2 cup of flour. Grab some parchment paper and some cute Halloween cookie cutters and you’re ready to get going!

Start by putting the cookie dough and flour in a bowl and mixing them together until they’re combined. I was super ambitious and thought this could be done elegantly with a spoon. Wrong. Get in there with your hands and squish it all together.

Once it’s blended, roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper or a large Silpat to about 11″ x 14″. My parchment paper is right at 11″ wide, so that made it easier. Use a little flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking. It will seem thin, but it works out just fine. Don’t worry about even edges, you can trim them it it bothers you (shout out to my Type-A friends!)

At this point, you’ll need to put on your imagination hat, and picture your final product. Arrange your cookie cutters according to where you’d like the puzzle pieces to be.

This photo shows a light outline of where I envision a hill to be on the base. The top will be sky and the bottom is going to be the hill. Make the cut-outs, but don’t remove the cookie shapes, yet. TIP: In hind site, the small stars were not not a great choice and a bit difficult to work with. Not impossible, though, and they really looked cute. It’s a personal preference…

Using the parchment paper, carefully slide the whole thing onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes (this part will make your life much easier, so don’t skip it.)

Take the baking sheet out of the fridge and gently lift each cookie shape onto a small baking sheet. I use a small offset spatula, but the dough really is firm enough to do this by hand.

Bake the cookie shape in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 8-9 minutes or until golden. As these cook, they will spread as most cookies do. That’s ok, but we want them to fit back into their original spot. As soon as they come out of the oven, use the matching cookie cutter and trim it to its original size.

The trimmed part will come right off and the best part is that you get to eat the scraps!

The large baking sheet goes in next. Same temperature, but for 12-15 minutes. Once again, the cookie will spread and the holes you’ve so carefully cut out will close in a little.

Eek! Do the same thing as before and trim these up again as soon as the cookie comes out of the oven. Again…eat the scraps. Chef’s treat!

Ta-daa! All better.

So, now comes the fun part. Time to decorate! Really there are no rules here. I used buttercream tinted with gel colors. If you’re good with royal icing and flooding cookies and all that, then by all means, go for it! I frosted each cookie first.

Then I frosted the puzzle base – a gloomy, scary purple night sky and green rolling hill for the jack-o-lanterns to sit on.

I trimmed it with a little more black icing and then dropped the puzzle pieces back in! I really can’t even stand how adorable this turned out. To serve, aside from taking out the puzzle pieces to eat, we just cut the base into pieces. You could even go random on it and break off chunks as you like.

I really love the way this turned out! I think I’ll start thinking about one for Thanksgiving, then Christmas, too. This would also make a yummy treat for Superbowl Sunday, laid out like a football field with helmet cutouts, maybe?

Have any cute ideas for this?