Halloween is quickly approaching, so it’s time to get planning for it!
The big question is . . . do you have the coolest, most scary costume of the night picked out?
And what about your Halloween cookies? They are always a hit this season. Furthermore, baking and decorating them are the perfect opportunities to get fun and crazy with our sweets and treats.
Do you want to know one of my favorite Halloween cookie suggestions? Creep out your Halloween party guests with cracked tombstone cookies!
For this spooky project, you will need:
- Pale grey flooding consistency royal icing
- Tombstone-shaped cookie
- Damask stencil (The one I used below is from Mil Artes.)
- Small offset spatula
- Dark grey medium consistency royal icing (item 5, photo)
- Black Rainbow Dust edible powder, matte (item 2, photo)
- Dusting brush (I used a Wilton one.)
- Claret Rainbow Dust edible powder (item 3, photo)
- Milk Chocolate Rainbow Dust edible powder (item 4, photo)
- Black FooDoodler fine edible marker (item 1, photo)
Unlike the adhesive stencil that I used in my last tutorial, I'll use a normal plastic one this time.
Let’s get started! 
Steps 1, 2, and 3: Begin by flooding the cookie with pale grey royal icing, and let it dry for about an hour and a half (if you use a dehydrator) or four to five hours on your kitchen table (if you don’t dehydrate to dry). Please, don’t let the royal icing dry completely, because partially dry icing is important to achieving the cracked effect. After this time, gently press the royal icing with your fingers in order to break the outer, dried icing layer - and get cracking! Be careful: the underlying royal icing is probably still a little bit wet (image 1). Once you have cracked as much of the cookie as you want, let the icing dry completely.
Then, place the damask stencil at the top of the cookie, making sure it lies flat across the icing surface to ensure a crisp stenciled pattern. Using the small offset spatula, spread a thin layer of the medium consistency dark grey royal icing over the top of the stencil (image 2). Carefully remove the stencil, and let the icing dry. (Note: I only stenciled one element within the larger stencil.)
Now, dust the surface cracks with the black matte powder (image 3).
Steps 4, 5, and 6: Continue dusting the tombstone crevasses, this time with the claret and milk chocolate powders (image 4) for more depth and interest. Repeat this process by dusting over the stenciled damask element (image 5).
Finally, write the tombstone saying with the black edible marker. I first drew the letters freehand with a non-toxic pencil (I always use Staedler ones) and then drew over each letter with the fine food marker.
If you don’t feel you can draw freehand or want to use a very challenging font, you can always use the paper transfer technique. Just put your saying in that font, print it out in reverse, and trace it with pencil on parchment paper; then place the pencil-side down on the cookie, and trace over the image again to transfer the pencil marks to the cookie.
Quick photo recap:
Get creative with your sayings! On the Internet, you can find a lot of funny epitaphs, names, or quotes to customize your own tombstones.
Boo! Have a sweet and spook-tacular Halloween! 
Cookie and photo credits: Aixa Zunino
Aixa Zunino is the soul of Dolce Sentire, a virtual corner of sweetness and creativity dedicated to cookie decorating. On her site, this garden engineer, self-taught decorator, and lover of flowers and animals lets her imagination fly, sharing everything she has learned since discovering the world of cookies in early 2012. She combines this activity with courses around Spain (her current home) where she teaches all the secrets to getting dreamy cookies. Meet her on Facebook or her website, and email her your cookie decorating questions or concerns at dolcesentiredolci@gmail.com.
Photo credit: Aixa Zunino
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