Spookalicious Halloween cookies part 1

Yesterday my new meincupcake order finally arrived, and with it my new Halloween cookie cutters, yiipppiiiieee :D.
So I decided to make yummy cookies Halloween style, which I never made. And this is the first time that I frost cookies with royal icing, so that will be a new experience for me too.
The recipe I used for the cookies is one out of my childhood. Ok my childhood is not that long ago, but there are still memories with which I will always make this recipe. It's out of my moms recipe book she used when she went to school and had cooking classes, so it's about 35 years old. And also this recipe is actually for christmas cookies but it's so good and easy that you can use it for any kind of opportunity.
Be aware that this recipe makes a lot of cookies. Today I got 5 cookie sheets full. So if you just want to try it out make half a recipe.

For this recipe you'll need:

4 1/4 cups(500g) Flour
2 Tsp. Baking powder
1/2 Tsp. Salt
2 middle large eggs
3/4 cup+2 Tbsp.(200g) Sugar
1 Package Vanilla Sugar or 1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/8 cup/2 1/2 sticks(250g) Butter
For aroma either zest or aroma of a lemon or orange, or you can leave the vanilla taste

1. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and if you're using the vanilla sugar, that too  into a  large bowl. Make a molds in the middle. Add now the eggs, if you're using it, the vanilla extract, the butter and the zest.

2. Mix and knead it all together until it all holds together and you have a pliable dough. 
Cut the dough in half and wrap in plastic, and flatten into disks. Put the dough into the fridge for about 60 minutes to chill.

3. When you take it back out of the fridge, knead the dough for a few minutes until it wont crack at the edges anymore. Roll out dough until it's 1/4 inch(6mm) thick. Cut out cookies as you like and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350°F(180°C) until they are lightly golden-brown.

Above are the cookie cutters I used: A witch hat, mini ghost, owl, bat and pumpkin. 

I cut the dough in three parts, because I used three flavors: Vanilla, orange and lemon. You can use any aroma you like.                                                                    

Some stages of my cookies. Here while I'm cutting them. 

Here right after they're out of the oven.











And here after I baked everything.

The good think about this recipe is, that it is a basic recipe, which means that you can vary the ingredients and can be experimental with it like replacing some of the flour with grounded almonds or hazelnuts, or making them spiced cookies with cinnamon and cloves to make it really christmas-y.

Tomorrow part 2 will follow and then you'll see the finished cookies complete with icing and decorations. I hope it'll work, because it's the first time I'll be frosting cookies with the flooding technique and decorating it with little details so wish me luck ;).

XOXO Owlicious