Dead Ringer Cookies If you are going to a Halloween party and need a last minute treat, how about making something with a real bit of goulish history behind them. Something that will give a chill when you tell them the history associated with these cookies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ England Buried People Alive ....... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the round and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell, thus, someone could be "saved by the bell," or was considered a "dead ringer." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Recipe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 cups butter, softened 1 1/2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Flavorings and color, such as Licorice extract and black food coloring. Directions 1 Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and flavorings and mix well. Stir flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to batter and mix well. 2 CHILL 3-4 hours or overnight before using. 3 Roll cookies out approximately 1/4 inch thick and insert toothpick into the top of the cookie this is so you can tie a string to it. 4 Bake cookies at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 8-10 minutes. This dough keeps well in a covered container in the regrigerator for a couple of weeks. 5 Tie a String through each cookie and make a loop at the other end to put on your finger.Then people can walk around with the cookie and say they just came from the grave, they were buried alive rang the bell and someone opened up the coffin and let you out. You can also say that you are going to a grave site as they are going to bury someone and you have to tie a bell to the supposed corpse in case he comes alive after being buried.     TOP