Healthier Ghost sugar cookies

I just made these cookies for my kids. I actually used my old basic sugar cookie recipe I made a while back and it worked pretty good.

Next time I make this cookies I would like to use unrefined sugar and see how that works but because the unrefined sugar is a bit more coarse and has a brown color to it I think the cookies may look a bit different. Will see how it goes.

For decorating the cookies I just used some powdered sugar and soy milk, but you can use water, regular milk, lemon....what ever you may like. I really didn't measure the frosting ingredients I used for over the cookies, I just made sure I obtained a kind of thicker consistency spreadable paste and that was it pretty much.

I would try the frosting over the cookie and if I found that it was a bit to runny I would just add a bit more sugar, that was my method. Not a very practical one but that is how I did it and it worked for me :-)

For the writing over the cookies I use dark chocolate chips. I melted them in the microwave and used a pampered chef decorator plastic bottle.

Anyhow, you can make these as many shapes as you want and decorate how ever you may please. I think these are just a slightly better alternative than the regular version with much more butter, sugar and all purpose flour.

Enjoy!!

 Right before placin the cookies in the oven.

Cookies right after coming out of the oven. Just a slight brown color around the edges. It took about 10-11 minutes.

First step. Putting the frosting on each cookie. The ones without it are for my little girl..... Just a little bit less sugar.

.....and more pictures :-)

I had the cookie batter in the fridge for over a week before I used it. I made a double batch the previous week and saved half of it wrapped in plastic wrap for these cookies.

Ingredients

Yields 16-18 cookies depending on cookie cutter size.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, next time I will try to add some shredded coconut to the mix
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup sugar, next time I will use just 3/4 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in egg, oil and vanilla. Add flours, and baking powder.

Divide dough into two and with a rolling pin flatten them out in between plastic wrap. Chill dough for at least 2 hours. I did over night.

Preheat oven to 350F and line a two baking cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and stamp out rounds using a cookie cutter (I roll out the dough in between plastic wrap which I find very easy to do. You can use any other cookie cutter shape you like as well).

Bake cookies for 14-17 minutes. Cool on sheets for 2-3 minutes and transfer them to a wire rack and cool. Decorate as desired or eat as is.

Tip: Dough can be chilled for up to 5 days or frozen wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap for up to 1 month. If frozen, thaw dough in the fridge before using.