Now that fall is in the air, well somewhat, and the pumpkins are officially at the grocery store, it’s time to start thinking about our fall and Halloween festivities.

Today, I made these cute candy corn cookies which would be great as a party give away or for your family to enjoy.

They are really, really easy to make (The only dishes you’ll dirty are the mixing bowl and the measuring cups. Yay!), and you’ll enjoy making them with the kids.

Here’s everything you’ll need:

Start with 2 sticks of  softened butter ( not melted). Mix the butter and 1 cup of sugar together until creamy. Add 1 egg, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Reduce the speed on mixer to low and add in 3 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Beat until well mixed.

Divide the dough into thirds. I just eyeballed it.

 Line a bread pan with wax paper.

 Press one-third of the dough evenly over bottom of pan.

Next, you have to dye the two remaining sections of dough. There are two ways you can do this to avoid staining your hands: with gloves or with plastic baggies. I used vinyl gloves to dye the orange layer.

Drop a little orange food coloring onto the dough and start to knead. This is the really fun part. (I could do it all day!) Continue until all the color has saturated the dough.

 Press this orange layer on top of the first layer of dough.

Next, color the remaining third of dough yellow. I tried using a sandwich size baggie this time.

Ugh, too small.

I put it into a larger size, and it worked much better.

Of course you can always use your bare hands if you don’t mind staining them. I’ve done that before, too. Hint: I used golden rod yellow and decided it might be a little dark, but there was no going back. A sunshine yellow would have been a better choice.

Now spread this layer on top of the orange and seal with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the dough is well chilled all the way through. Hint: If in a hurry, place in freezer but watch it, don’t let it freeze.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lift the wax paper to remove the dough from the pan. Cut the dough into 1/4 inch slices using a sharp knife.

Cut each slice into 6 wedges, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes.

Place the cookies on a cooling rack and sprinkle them with sugar.

Have a yummy Halloween!