Fossil Cookies
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Martha Stewart Living, October 2010
- Yield Makes 16
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Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- Salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pulse walnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl, and whisk in flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Gradually beat in walnut mixture.
- Divide dough into eighteen 1 1/2-inch balls, and press into irregular stone shapes using the palm of your hand; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Dust food-safe plastic insects with flour to coat; press into dough to make fossil impressions. Freeze until dough is very firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Bake until golden brown and firm in center, 25 to 28 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack, and let cool.
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I made these cookies using a bag of Halloween characters I found at the dollar store. I washed them with anti-bacterial soap and let them air dry. They worked great and I had some scary skeleton, bug, spider, and snake cookies. Great, delicious, and fun recipe.
Oh, and you can also use shells, which are typically found as fossil imprints - Best Buy has a small bag for under $4!
I found a small plastic bag with a variety of insects at Party City; you have to look in the party favours section, not the Hallowe'en areas. I also made a couple of dinosaur "feet" to make footprint fossils by cutting the shapes out of a cross-sectioned potato, as you would for childcraft stamping/printing. This is a great, classy variation to the more obvious ghouls and graveyards decorated foods to bring to a Hallowe'en party - thanks, Martha!
Found what look to be the same insects on Ebay for $6.95 (that's w/ shipping)--that'll save me time, energy, and gasoline--oooh, hope they're the correct size.....
I must make them, too. I couldn't find the plastic insects on the craftforless site either so while running errands today I checked Michael's, JoAnn's, Big Lots, and Target, to no avail. Guess I'll try finding them elsewhere on line--oh, maybe a party store.... Why is everything a QUEST???
I'm dying to make these for my paleontologist 3-yr-old, but can't find the "food safe plastic bugs" on createforless. Any ideas?