Ghost-shaped cookies made from tender Italian pasta frolla, sandwiched around your choice of chocolate hazelnut spread, amarena cherry preserves, or fig preserves. Two cut-out eyes let the filling show through. An optional icing finishes each one.
Pasta frolla is the Italian shortcrust used for crostate and filled biscuits, a rich dough of flour, butter, sugar, and egg that bakes up tender and crumbly rather than flaky. The word frolla means soft or tender, which describes the texture. Filled pastries sealed at the edges are an old format found across many cuisines, and the American toaster pastry is a modern relative. Here the two meet with a ghost-shaped cutter, an Italian dough, and a jam or spread center.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1/3 cup (65 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 9 tbsp (128 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Filling, choose one: 3 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella
- Filling, choose one: 3 tbsp amarena cherry preserves
- Filling, choose one: 3 tbsp fig preserves
- Water, for moistening the edges
- 1/4 cup confectioners sugar, optional icing
- 1/2 to 1 tsp water, optional icing
- Also needed: 1 ghost cookie cutter, 1 skewer or fork, and 1 piping tip (2A) or large metal straw
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
- Add the cold butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix with a fork until the dough starts to come together, then gather it gently into a ball without overworking it.
- Divide the dough in half, flatten each half into a disk, wrap them, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Roll one disk on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick and cut out ghosts with the cutter, then repeat with the second disk until you have 16 ghosts, re-chilling the scraps briefly if the dough gets soft.
- Using half of the ghosts for the top layers, cut two eyes in each with the small end of a 2A piping tip or a large metal straw.
- Spread about 1 teaspoon of your chosen filling in the center of each remaining ghost, leaving a 1/2-inch border, and lightly moisten the border with water.
- Place a top layer over each filled ghost and press around the edges with your fingertips to seal.
- Press the bottom edge firmly with a fork or skewer to shape the base of the ghost, then place the ghosts on the baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Chill the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm up the dough.
- Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden, then cool completely on a wire rack.
- To ice, mix the confectioners sugar with about 1/2 teaspoon of water until very thick, adding a little more water if needed, so the icing holds its shape but drips slowly from a spoon.
- Spoon the icing into a small zip-top bag and snip a tiny corner.
- Pipe a small dollop on the upper corner of each ghost and let the icing set for about 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Chill time: 30 minutes for the dough plus 15 minutes for the assembled ghosts. The oven is set 25 degrees lower than the original 400°F because the darker twin-pack sheets brown faster, so start checking at 10 minutes. Pasta frolla is tender, so keep it cold, roll it gently, and patch any cracks with your fingers. Use a small amount of filling so it does not leak.
Serve with espresso or coffee. Amarena cherry shows best through the eyes, but each filling has its own appeal, so try one of each.
Featured DaTerra product:
Baking Sheet/Cookie Sheet Twin Pack
The Baking Sheet/Cookie Sheet Twin Pack has darker ceramic nonstick sheets that brown a little faster, so the oven temperature here is 25 degrees lower than for a standard sheet. Each ghost also lifts off in one piece once cooled.
More from our kitchen:
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