Dia de los Muertos Cakes

These are what I made last year for Day of the Dead. Tawny asked for Pan de Muerto or Sugar Skulls, but there was no time. So I used my Mexican Wedding Cakes recipe to make these cute skull cookies. Bobby and I decorated the skulls with colorful ice cream toppings to make the faces. These are wicked cute and tasty!

Dia de los Muertos Cakes
1 C butter (softened)
1/2 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 C ground pecans or almonds
brightly colored decorations (flower shaped are best)
additional powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
2. Cream together, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla blend blend in remaining ingredients.
3. Form dough into 1 in balls.
4. Pinch the bottom of the dough ball to form a skull shape.
5. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
6. Use brightly colored flower decorations to make eyes, noses & mouths on the skulls. (at the time, I only had a couple of flower decorations left, so we used dinosaur decorations and just broke them to the sizes we needed)
7. Bake 15 - 20 minutes, until set, but not browned.
8. Cool slightly and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
9. Cool on rack.