This is Halloween,
This is Halloween,
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night… 

This song and the movie it comes from are a Halloween tradition for many people, including myself.  I haven’t always appreciated the greatness of The Nightmare Before Christmas.  The first time I ever saw it was in eighth grade English class.  Back then I was a newly branded teenager and way too cool to watch some silly cartoon movie.  As soon as the lights were out and the movie started, I fell asleep on the floor and that was that.  I didn’t think much about the movie again until med school, when a group of my friends and I began the tradition of what would become our annual pumpkin carving party.  We watched the movie, carved pumpkins, ate snacks and had a blast.  Ever since then I knew what Ben had been trying to tell me for years – this movie is awesome.  (We also watched Labryinth, another classic if you ask me :))

So in honor of this Halloween favorite, I thought some cookies would be in order.  I had a lot of fun sketching out the designs for the different characters.  I used this chocolate sugar cookie base and decorated with royal icing (see this tutorial to get started).  The iconic hill with Jack Skellington’s silhouette turned out to be my personal favorite.  Ben likes evil Jack and Andrew was partial to Sally.  If you’re a fan of the movie, consider trying your hand at some Nightmare Before Christmas cookies for Halloween.   Which design is your favorite?  And if these cookies are too involved for your taste, stay tuned for one more super quick Halloween treat on Monday :)

Past Halloween sugar cookies:
2010
2009

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