DIY Voodoo Doll Halloween Gingerbread Cookies
I was watching American Horror Story the other day and decided to rematch one of my all time favorite seasons, Coven. I’m obsessed with so much about it: the black clothing, Stevie Nicks, the tours of New Orleans, the bitchy witty banter and especially Jessica Lange (queen). Anyways, I was watching the episode where we meet Marie Laveau aka the Voodoo Queen. Papa Legba is literally one of the creepiest characters they’ve featured.
Long story short, most nights when I’m binge watching TV I end up on google and wikipedia learning more about whatever I’m watching or on some tangent related to something I heard. That being said, I got deep into the google-world of new orleans ghost stories and voodoo. I was up until like 3 am looking at pictures of Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies aka the Buckner Mansion, Madame Lalaurie’s Mansion aka the Gallier House, and tons of myths and stories about haunted spots in New Orleans.
So, the next day I woke up and was obviously still super pumped up by all of my googling. Since it’s almost Halloween, I’ve been making a ton of DIYs, decorating and baking spooky treats. I was inspired by the reigning supreme and decided to bake something seriously spooky… and totally adorable and tasty.
Voodoo Gingerbread are the cutest little cursed cookies!! If you’ve never seen a real voodoo doll, it’s basically a ritualized way of invoking the spirits, or fate, to act in a defined way towards someone. Most of the time, you’ll seem them used in movies or on TV to “magically” make someone do something or hurt them. Sounds a little morbid, but it’s all in good fun!
They’re not just for Halloween either! You can make them for Christmas and holiday parties, or even for Valentine’s day – especially Galentine’s Day! They make the PERFECT gift for your bff who just got dumped and are a great treat on Girl’s Night!
DIY Voodoo Doll Cookies
Voodoo Doll Cookies are super easy to make. You use a basic Gingerbread Cookie Cutter and then decorate them with icing hearts, broken hearts, bandages and stitches. I wanted to make them a little bit creepier, so I used sewing pins and needles! Don’t forget to take these out before eating though!
I also made sugar cookies instead of actual gingerbread cookies because I wanted to make sure you could see the decorations and the colors would pop. You can easily use store bought sugar cookie or gingerbread cookie mix/dough if you don’t want to make it from scratch too. If you can find icing pens it will be a lot easier to make intricate designs. I used my cake decorating kit and icing tips and it worked well too though, there’s just a little bit more of a learning curve.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- icing pens
- gingerbread cookie cutter
- rolling pin
Directions
To Bake the Voodoo Doll Cookies:
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- Mix your flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, slowly beat the butter and sugar until they’re well blended. Increase your speed to high and beat the mixture until it’s light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Reduce the speed again to low and beat in the eggs and vanilla until they’re well mixed, then beat in flour mixture just until blended. Divide your dough into 4 equal pieces and flatten each piece into a disk. Wrap each disk with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
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- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator at a time, it’s easier to work with cold dough. Then, on lightly floured surface (don’t forget to flour your rolling pin) roll the dough out until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto your cookie cutter and cut out your gingerbread men. You can save the dough scraps off to the side. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on a baking an uncreased cookie sheet. I pulled the arms downward a bit to make them droop, more like a doll.
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- Bake the cookies until the edges are golden ( about 12 to 15 minutes).
- Transfer the cookies to wire rack to cool and repeat the process with your remaining dough.
To Decorate the Voodoo Doll Cookies:
- Be sure to wait until cookies are completely cooled. You don’t want to make a giant mess with melted icing.
- Using an icing pen or icing kit, decorate the gingerbread men with voodoo like designs. You can use my pictures for inspo! I also broke off a few arms and legs to make them look extra creepy!
- Let them dry completely before stacking them. I like to store mine in a cookie jar or an airtight container.
Everything You Need to Bake These Cookies
