Candy Bucket Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Whisk the flour and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
• Combine the butter and granulated sugar in a separate large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in 4 teaspoons of water and the vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour mixture and finally, the pecans.
• Break off tablespoonful pieces of dough, roll each to form a crescent shape and arrange evenly spaced on the prepared baking sheets. (You'll have leftover dough for a second batch.)
• Bake until slightly golden on the bottoms and edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Watch very carefully--better to undercook than overcook. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 10 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Put the powdered sugar in a shallow plate. Once cooled, roll each cookie in an ample amount of the sugar.

Steps:

• Spray one 8-inch-round cake pan and two 6-cup Bundt pans with cooking spray. Beat the cake mixes, eggs, buttermilk and oil with a mixer; divide among the pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes for the round cake and 30 to 35 minutes for the Bundts; let cool.
• Tint the vanilla frosting with orange food coloring. Trim the flat sides of the Bundt cakes and the top of the round cake to make level. Turn 1 Bundt cake upside down; spread with frosting. Top with the round cake, more frosting and the other Bundt cake, then frost the whole cake and chill 30 minutes.
• Lightly dust a sheet of wax paper with cornstarch. Roll out the fondant on the paper into a 21-by-8-inch rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 12 strips, 8 inches long and 1 3/4 inches wide, tapering the ends as shown.
• Attach the fondant strips to the cake, lightly pressing and smoothing them from the base of the cake upward. Refrigerate the cake 30 minutes.
• Draw jack-o'-lantern eyes, a nose and a mouth on paper and cut them out; attach to the cake with toothpicks. Score around the cutouts with a paring knife, then remove the toothpicks and paper.
• Trace the scored lines with the knife, cutting through the fondant and slightly into the cake. Pry out the pieces with the tip of the knife.
• Cut a 1-inch-deep circle out of the top of the cake. Put the dark chocolate frosting in a resealable plastic bag; snip the corner and pipe the frosting into the cutouts.
• Twist the 2 strings of licorice together and insert into the top of the cake to make a handle. Fill the top of the cake with snack-size candy.

Steps:

• Cover a baking sheet with the foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Roll out the cookie dough and cut out rounds. Use aspic cutters to cut out shapes within each circle. To make a hanging cookie, punch a hole in the top of each cookie with a chopstick. Place the cookies on the baking sheet and bake as directed. Halfway through the baking time, fill the holes with the crushed candy (do not overfill). Once thoroughly baked, repoke the hole at the top of the cookie. Cool, then thread with shoestring licorice or ribbon.