I had some fun this week and made silly Necronomicon Evil Dead Cookies! One of my favorite movies is Army of Darkness. During high school, my friends and I watched it repeatedly, reciting the punchlines verbatim. When I found out Bruce Campbell was going to reprise his role as Ash Williams a.k.a. Ashy Slashy for an Evil Dead television series, I FREAKED! I couldn’t wait to watch Ash wield his chainsaw hand to kill the evil deadites while spouting silly one-liners.
The first TV Ash vs Evil Dead season premiered in October 2015 on the Starz network. I don’t have cable and wasn’t savvy enough to figure out how to watch it last year. However, THIS October Kieran found a way for us to watch last season and the new season. Ash vs Evil Dead delivers everything the fans have been waiting for – over the top silliness, well-written suspense, and copious amounts of blood and gore.
Fun fact, Bruce Campbell lives in rural Oregon! I hope to cross paths with him in Portland one day, that would make my life.
I thought it would be fun to pay homage to Evil Dead by making Necronomicon Evil Dead Cookies!
The cookie recipe came from Joy of Baking. I wanted to have fun creating the look of the Necronomicon without fussing over a cookie recipe. I followed JOB’s recipe for the cookies and the royal icing with egg whites
To achieve my Necronomicon Evil Dead Cookies, I rolled out the dough and used my cell phone as my template to achieve the book shape. I rolled out the dough, set my phone on it, and used a knife to cut out a square shape. Pro tip, wrap your phone in a paper towel or in a plastic baggie before setting it on the dough. Otherwise, your phone will get a ton of flour on it!!
I used two kinds of icing for this cookie. I made royal icing (recipe below) and used store-bought icing too. I’ll talk about why I used two different types of icing below.
I made the royal icing after the square shaped cookies were baked and cooled. Royal icing hardens once exposed to the air, so don’t make the icing until you’re ready to use it! I used black and brown food coloring to make a flesh color. I covered the surface of each cookie with icing then let them dry for 20-30 minutes. Royal icing starts to harden once it’s exposed to air. At first the icing is too soft to work with, however, before it’s completely dry, it becomes malleable.
Once the frosting is malleable, you can use a toothpick or the tip of a chopstick to trace out the eyes, nose, and mouth. Switch to a spoon and scrape the icing away hollowing out the eyes, nose, and mouth. Push the extra icing you scraped along the edges of the eyes, nose, and mouth to build up a mound of icing. The icing should be malleable enough to push and pull it wherever you want.
Now place a dab of the black, store-bought icing in the middle of the eyes, nose, and mouth. Using a spoon, chopstick, or toothpick, gently spread the black icing to fill the areas you just hollowed out. The store bought icing is thicker and does a good job keeping the royal icing in place, especially if it’s too soft. This is why I used two different kinds of icing. Have fun and keep pushing and pulling the icing until you like the look of your Necronomicon Evil Dead Cookies! I personally kept adding royal icing around the edges of the eyes, nose, and mouth to give those areas depth and look more like skin.
When you like the look of your cookies, allow them to completely dry before storing them – this can take several hours.
At this point, you can stop if you want. I decided to add another layer of icing. I thought the extra icing gave the cookie a morbid wrinkled skin like appearance. This time I used store-bought white icing with brown and black food coloring to come up with the brownish beige color shown in the pictures. Using a spoon and a chopstick again, I added the icing, little by little, pushing and pulling it over the cookie. I continued to build up the edges around the eyes, nose, and mouth, then sloppily spread out the icing everywhere else.
Once I was happy with the look, I was finished. I allowed the frosting to dry once more then the cookies were ready to eat!
I love my silly Necronomicon Evil Dead Cookies, they were fun to make and tasted delicious! Have a fun yet safe Halloween!!
Thanks for stopping by,
Christina
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Egg white from 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- First whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) together in a bowl. Set the bowl aside while you prep the remaining ingredients.
- Beat the butter and sugar with a standing or handheld mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy (approx 3-4 minutes).
- Now add the egg and vanilla and continue mixing the ingredients together until everything is well combined.
- Finally, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mix until a smooth dough forms.
- The dough will be sticky and needs to rest. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap then chill in the fridge either overnight or for an hour or until firm enough to roll out.
- When the dough is ready to be rolled preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Also, be sure to have extra flour on hand. The cookie dough is sticky so use as much flour as needed to prevent it from sticking to your roller or cutting board.
- I cut the dough ball in half, then the halves in half to make 4 portions. It was easier to roll out smaller sections of dough. Roll out the dough until it's approx ¼ of an inch thick. Using a square shaped cookie cutter or square shaped template of your choosing, cut the dough into squares. Place the cookie cutout on a cookie sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper.
- Once all the cookies are cut out, place the entire cookie sheet in the fridge for about 10 minutes to chill the dough. Otherwise, if the dough is too soft, they may lose their shape while baking.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until they are brown around the edges. When the cookies are baked, pull them out of the oven and allow them to completely cool.
- With a standing or hand-held mixer, beat the egg white and lemon juice for a couple of minutes. After that add the powdered sugar and mix on low until the ingredients are combined. Now add your food coloring, a drop or less at a time until you reach the color you want.
- Place the cookies on a plate or a piece of parchment paper. Frost the cookies (from top to bottom) with the icing. Don't use all the icing, save some for additional decorating later. Allow the icing to harden for roughly 10-30 minutes before moving on to the next step.
- During that time, mix some store bought frosting with black food coloring in a small bowl. Set aside until needed.
- This next step you'll need to play by ear. As long as the icing is malleable enough, trace out 2 ovals for the eyes, a circle for the nose, and an elongated oval for the mouth using the tip of a chopstick or toothpick. Switch to a spoon and scrape the icing away hollowing out the eyes, nose, and mouth. Push the extra icing you scraped along the edges of the eyes, nose, and mouth to build up a mound of icing. The icing should be malleable enough to push and pull it wherever you want.
- Now place a dab of the black, store-bought icing in the middle of the eyes, nose, and mouth. Using a spoon, chopstick, or toothpick, gently spread the black icing to fill the areas you just hollowed out.
- The store bought icing is thicker and does a good job keeping the royal icing in place, especially if it's too soft. Have fun and keep pushing and pulling the icing until you like the look of your Necronomicon Evil Dead Cookies! I personally kept adding royal icing around the edges of the eyes, nose, and mouth to give those areas depth and look more like skin.
- When you like the look of your cookies, allow them to completely dry before storing them - this can take several hours.
- At this point, you can stop if you want. I decided to add another layer of icing. I thought the extra icing gave the cookie a morbid wrinkled skin like appearance. This time I used store-bought white icing with brown and black food coloring to come up with the brownish beige color shown in the pictures. Using a spoon and a chopstick again, I added the icing, little by little, pushing and pulling it over the cookie. I continued to build up the edges around the eyes, nose, and mouth, then sloppily spread out the icing everywhere else.
- Once I was happy with the look, I was finished. I allowed the frosting to dry once more than the cookies were ready to eat!
The number of cookies you get out of this recipe depends on how large your squares are and how thick your dough is. I got approx 8 cookies out of this recipe.
The cookie recipe came from Joy of Baking.
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