Easy Halloween Cookie Worms with Colored Dough

Looking to add a seriously creepy (but delicious) touch to your Halloween dessert table? These cookie “worms” are the perfect trick-and-treat combination.

COOKIE WORMS STEP-BY-STEP

You can make these worms from a simple cookie dough. But use a dough that doesn’t spread too much. I used the dough for my mini tart shells. It’s delicious, doesn’t spread, and it works perfectly, keeping the ribbed, wormy texture intact.

THINGS YOU NEED

• Get all the tools and supplies in Haniela’s Amazon Shop
• Hair Comb – new, never used
• Pastry Brush – use it to apply cocoa powder or cinnamon onto the hair comb
• Ground Cinnamon (favorite cinnamon) or Cocoa Powder
• Gel Food Coloring: green, blue, pink, orange
• Perforated Baking Mat
• Baking Sheet

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DIVIDE AND COLOR COOKIE DOUGH

From one batch of no-spread Vanilla Cookie Dough, you’ll have an enormous amount of cookie maggots. Use some of the dough for cookie maggots, and the rest to make cut-out cookies or mini tart shells.

• If you plan to use multiple colors, the best time to color the cookie dough for this project is right after you mix it. Use concentrated gel food colors instead of liquid colors.
• Push the dough into the food coloring and gently knead until uniform in color.

PREPARE HAIR COMB

• To create a ribbed/wormy texture on cookies, I used a brand-new hair comb.
• Lightly dust the comb with ground cinnamon or cocoa powder to prevent the cookie dough from sticking and to add a shadowy accent.
• Dip the pastry brush into ground cinnamon, gently shake off the excess (steps 1-4).

Use a pastry brush lightly coated with cinnamon to dust the comb with it (steps 1-2).

CREATE RIBBED/WORMY TEXTURE

• To shape the maggots, take a piece of cookie dough and shape it into a log.
• Place it on the edge of the comb where the teeth start forming (steps 1-2).
• Press the cookie piece down lightly with the palm of your hand, and keep rolling it until it falls off the hair comb (steps 3-5).
• If needed, you can repeat this process (steps 6-7).
• Transfer cookie worms onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a perforated mat.
• Give the maggot cookie movement by shaping the ribbed log into a wave or creating a snail design.

BAKE COOKIES

If the cookies become too soft, chill them for an additional 10 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 7-9 minutes.

If you’d like, you can pair these with colorful, creepy-eyed cookies.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

MORE HALLOWEEN IDEAS

• Haunted House Cookies
• Halloween Buttercream Cupcakes
• Cute Halloween Cookies
• Witch’s Finger Cookies via That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Pop Art Spider Cookies

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