Ingredients
Method
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using an electric hand mixer), whip the room temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy (~3-5 minutes on medium speed)
- Add the egg and vanilla extract to the bowl and mix until combined
- Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula and continue mixing to ensure that everything is well incorporated
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined
- Mix in the chocolate chips until they’re evenly distributed. It won’t look like a lot of chocolate but don’t worry, we’ll add more to the top when they come out of the oven!
- Scoop out the dough using a larger cookie dough scoop (this is a #20 scoop which is also 1.5 ounces). I typically do a heaping scoop in order to get 14 cookies per batch.
- Place the cookies in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight (overnight is preferred as it will lock in the flavor and will help them bake perfectly)
- Once you’re ready to bake the cookies, pull them out of the fridge, preheat the oven to 350℉, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Place the cookies a few inches apart from one another on the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes
- When the cookies come out of the oven, you can take a large circle cookie cutter reshape the cookies a little by moving the cookie cutter in a fast circle motion around each cookie while they're still very hot. This will make them perfect circles and add a little thickness to them.
For the Ghosts
- While the cookies cool, melt the white chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds in the microwave. Give it a good stir until it's all melted and smooth. If you need to continue heating it, do so in 10-second intervals.
- If your white chocolate is a bit too yellow, you can add a couple drops of white gel food coloring during this step.
- Take a small portion of the melted white chocolate and place it in a separate bowl. Add black gel food coloring (you'll only need a drop or two) and give it a good stir until it's solid black. Add this to a piping bag and cut the tiniest piece off from the tip of the bag.
- Next, line a baking sheet with wax paper (parchment paper can work but wax paper is best in my experience).
- Dip the back of a spoon in the melted white chocolate and create little ghost shapes on top of the wax paper by spreading the white chocolate in a small "sweeping" motion. See the above photos in the blog post for a photo guide if needed!
- Once you have your ghost shapes, pipe the eyes and mouth on each ghost using the black white chocolate in the piping bag.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for a few minutes until the ghosts easily lift up from the wax paper.
- Take a small amount of melted white chocolate and place it on the back of a ghost. Next, stick that ghost on top of a cookie so that it stays in place. Repeat this with every ghost until all of your cookies are decorated!
