Our Candy Corn Shortbread Cookies are a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth vanilla shortbread with yellow, orange and white stripes to look just like the classic Halloween candy. There's no actual candy corn involved and no cookie cutters needed. Just one simple dough, a little food coloring and a bit of patience. They're the perfect addition to a Halloween dessert board for your next party!
The cutest Halloween cookies, no cookie cutters required!
Candy corn is probably the most divisive Halloween candy out there. You either love it or hate it. Both of us are lukewarm about it. We'll tolerate it, but it's never our first choice. (I much prefer our homemade Peanut Butter Cups; my mom loves our homemade vegan Twix bars!)
Whichever camp you fall in, it doesn't really matter when it comes to these cookies. They have all the charm of festive candy corn, but taste like a buttery shortbread cookie instead of a waxy, too-sweet candy.
When we first started testing this recipe, we opted for a sugar cookie dough, similar to our slice and bake heart cookies. And although that dough is a little easier to work with, we decided shortbread just tastes better.
This recipe doesn't require any fancy ingredients, but you do need some patience when it comes to the process. Our best advice: don't skip or shorten the chilling times. The dough is soft, so it needs to be firm in between each stage so your cookies come out neat and clean!
These are so much fun for Halloween class parties, spooky movie nights, or packing up for your neighbors (ours loved them!). If you want to go all out this year, try some homemade Halloween candy like our Easy Butterfingers, Vegan Snickers Bars, or Almond Joys.
xoxo, Lexi & Beth
Key Ingredients Needed for Candy Corn Shortbread Cookies
- Butter: The key ingredient for any good shortbread. It should be softened, but not warm. When you press it, your finger should leave a dent without sinking right in. (If the butter is too warm, the dough can get greasy and hard to work with.) We like using a good quality butter like Kerrygold unsalted here, since the flavor really shines through.
- Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar dissolves into the butter, which contributes to that melt-in-your-mouth texture that you can't quite get with granulated sugar.
- Cornstarch: Another ingredient that makes these extra tender and melt-in-your-mouth! It's not 100% necessary and you can replace with more all-purpose flour, but it reduces the protein content of the dough, which makes it extra soft.
- Gel food coloring: Gel coloring is much more concentrated than liquid, so you get bright color without adding extra moisture to the dough. We don't recommend liquid food coloring here, since you'd need a lot of it to get a true yellow and orange, and it makes the dough sticky.
- You can use natural food coloring, but keep in mind that you'll need A LOT of it to get vibrant colors.
- All-purpose flour: If you have a scale, weigh your flour instead of scooping (it's more accurate). If you're using measuring cups, spoon and level the flour for an accurate measurement. Keep in mind that too much flour will make the dough dry and crumbly.
- Gluten-free: We have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour and therefore can't recommend it as a 1:1 substitute. If you try it, let us know how it turns out in the comments below!
How to Bake Candy Corn Shortbread Cookies
Make the dough
Whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar just until combined. Don't over-mix the dough. You don't want to aerate the butter during this step, otherwise the cookies will puff up and lose their sharp edges in the oven.
Mix in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients on low speed until the dough comes together.
Divide and color
Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Pro tip: use a scale for this to ensure you have exactly the same amount of each color. Leave one plain, color one yellow and color one orange. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until the dough is firm enough to roll. We like to wrap ours in plastic wrap and flatten into a rough square so it's easier to roll out in the next step.
Roll and chill, then cut into strips
On a lightly floured surface, roll each color into a ¼-inch-thick rectangle, about 8x5 inches. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and chill until solid. This takes 1 to 2 hours in the fridge, or about 20 minutes in the freezer if you're short on time.
Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 1-inch strips. You should end up with 5 strips of each color.
Assemble the candy corn stripes and cut into triangles
Lay one strip of each color edge to edge, with yellow on the bottom, orange in the middle and white on top. Place a piece of parchment paper over the strips and gently roll over them once or twice with a rolling pin, just enough to fuse the edges together. If you apply too much pressure, the top and bottom will end up wider and they won't have clean lines.
Repeat with the remaining strips, then chill the dough again until firm. Cut each striped strip into triangles, then transfer the cookies to the sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
Bake and enjoy!
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes at 325˚F, until the tops no longer look wet and the bottoms are a pale golden brown.
Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!
- Keep an eye on your oven: Depending on how big your cookies are and how hot your oven runs, these may take more or less time than the stated 16-18 minutes. We recommend you start checking for doneness around 13 minutes to be safe. If your oven tends to run really hot, double up your sheet pans (place another sheet pan under the one you're baking on) to keep the bottoms from browning too fast.
- Don't shorten the chill times: Shortbread dough is very soft, which means it can be fiddly to work with. To keep these clean-cut with sharp edges, we chill the dough at several points during the process to keep the butter firm so it's much easier to work with. If you have space in your freezer, use it! This will significantly cut down on your prep time.
- Storage: Let the cookies cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to one week.
- Freezer storage: Freeze baked cookies on a parchment-lined sheet pan, then transfer to a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature.
- Make ahead: You can make the dough, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days before baking, or freeze the unbaked cookies for up to 3 months. You can bake them straight from the freezer, but they may take an extra 1-4 minutes in the oven.
More Cookie Recipes You'll Love
We can't wait for you to bake these Candy Corn Cookies in your own home! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram. We can't wait to see what you're cooking!
📖 Recipe
Candy Corn Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt.
- In a separate large bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar just until smooth. Don't over-beat it – it just needs to be incorporated. Add in the vanilla and mix just until incorporated.
- Add in the dry ingredients, again mixing just until the dough comes together. You can also use a spatula to mix this.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. We weigh ours so it's exact. It should be about 565g total, so each section will be ~188g. Leave one portion plain, color one yellow and one orange, kneading a few drops of food color in until the color is even. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until the dough is firm.
- On a floured surface, roll each color into a ¼-inch thick rectangle that's about 8x5 inches. Wrap in plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator or freezer until solid (1-2 hours in the fridge, 20 minutes in the freezer).
- Using a knife or a pizza cutter, cut each rectangle into 1-inch strips, so you have 5 strips of each color.
- Take one strip of each color, with yellow on the bottom, orange in the middle, and white on top, and lay them edge to edge. Place parchment paper over the top and gently roll with a rolling pin once or twice to fuse the edges together. If you apply too much pressure, the top and bottom will end up wider and they won't have clean lines.
- Repeat with all strips, then return to the fridge or freezer until the dough is set again (the dough is soft, so this ensures the candy corn holds its shape!).
- Preheat your oven to 325˚F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Cut the strips into alternating triangles to create the candy corn shape, then transfer each cookie to the sheet pans. (Note: half of the candy corn will have white on top, and half will have yellow on top.)
- Bake for 16-18 minutes, until the tops no longer look wet and the bottoms are pale golden brown. They should still be light in color – don't over-bake.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes on the sheet pans, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
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