Death by Chocolate Haunted Halloween House
Chocolate cookie walls, windows made of molten Skittles and roof tiles made from M&M’s, this haunted chocolate Halloween house may look creepy, but if you’re a dessert-lover, it’s home sweet home!
When M&M’s and Skittles dare you to make a treat so delicious it’s scary, you bring your A-game! A haunted chocolate Halloween house a la Hansel and Gretel has always been high on my list of stories to recreate out of dessert and this sure brings the creep factor.
Before you go ahead and say this is difficult to make – it’s not! This haunted chocolate Halloween house is a 2D version so there’s very little building required. The walls are made from a crisp but chocolatey cookie that’s sturdy enough to hold everything together but not sturdy enough to break your teeth. I made the windows by crushing up yellow and orange Skittles – they turn into a golden glass in the oven which is perfect! The whole chocolate Halloween house is stuck inside my ultimate dense, dark fudgy brownie studded with peanut M&M’s. This is one treat that’s definitely not for the faint-hearted!
If you’re looking for other creepy treats to add to this spectacular showstopper – check out this Black Brushstroke Cake, Chocolate Freakshakes, Poison Toffee Apple Cake and Ghostly Meringues.
Apart from giving me the chills when they delivered a wooden coffin filled with sweets to my door last week, M&M’s and Skittles have also given me a R650 hamper of treats to giveaway! To win, all you have to do is bake a creepy creation using M&M’s or Skittles (or both!), take a pic and post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter before 9am on the 29 October 2018 (don’t forget to tag me so I can see it and use the #daretoscare). The treat that I think gives me the most chills will not only win the hamper but have their recipe posted right here on TheKateTin.com (You’ll be the first! That’s never happened before – ever!) *Competition has closed
Congratulations to Daniel Loumeau who WOW’ed me by making not one but TWO jaw-dropping creations! The first was a Witch’s Cauldron with Potion which had a (green) white chocolate and M&M’s mousse, Witch’s potion inside a crisp, pastry cauldron over a fire of Skittles flames, M&M’s embers and pastry ash. How cool?!
The second was a Spider Infested Tree Stump made from marbled vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, layered with chocolate ganache covered in milk chocolate bark, crawling with milk chocolate and M&M’s spiders, with Skittles spider web on a mulch of dried cupcake crumbs, flaked milk chocolate and crumbled M&M’s.
If you want to follow Daniel’s amazing creations (he has MANY more), follow him over on Instagram HERE.
Since you’ll be stocking up on M&M’s and Skittles, don’t forget to enter their ‘Treats That Do The Trick’ competition. Dial *120*3836# and you can win movie vouchers to go catch your favourite horror movie ‘cos it’s not Halloween without getting the crap scared out of you, right?!
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE HAUNTED HALLOWEEN HOUSE
Makes 1 large house, enough to feed 8-12 people
Chocolate Cookies
125g salted butter or margarine softened
220g castor sugar
325g cake flour, plus extra for dusting
50g cocoa powder
2 tsp coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup (80ml) milk
2 x 60g bags of Skittles
Chocolate Brownie Base
200g good-quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
150g salted butter or margarine
150g castor sugar
2 large eggs, whisked gently
75g cake flour
30g cocoa powder
Large pinch of salt
100g peanut M&M’s
Chocolate Ganache Icing
120g dark chocolate, chopped
190ml cream
For Decorating
200g dark baking chocolate, melted, for decorating
100g M&M’s, for the roof tiles
Preheat the oven to 180C (or 160 degrees celcius if using a fan-forced oven). Download this chocolate haunted Halloween house template from the internet, print it and cut out the front and the triangular support. Cream the butter or margarine and sugar until very pale and fluffy – about 6-8 minutes. Add the flour, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, salt, bicarbonate of soda and enough milk to form a soft dough. Roll the dough out on a floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Cut out the house and the triangle supports from the dough. Crush the orange skittles and place them in the window openings. Slide the baking paper (and cookie dough) onto a baking tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes if too soft. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Use the remaining dough to roll out again and cut out tombstones and a creepy tree, if desired. Arrange the leftover dough on the baking tray too (we’re going to bake this to make our ‘soil’. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden and crisp.
To make the chocolate brownie base, keep the oven preheated to 180°C (fan 160°C) Grease a 20cm square shallow baking tin and line the base with baking paper. Melt the chopped chocolate and butter together in a saucepan slowly over a low heat until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then leave to cool for a few minutes. Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold in until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Stir in the M&M’s. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes – the centre should still be gooey. Turn off the oven and leave the brownies inside for a further 5 minutes before removing. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
To make the ganache, place the dark chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream to just below boiling point then pour over the chocolate. Allow to stand for 3-4 minutes before stirring. Leave to set at room temperature until thickened and spreadable.
To decorate the chocolate Halloween house, spread a thin layer of chocolate onto the roof and stick the M&M’s on as roof tiles. Place the melted baking chocolate in a piping bag and pipe frames onto the windows and ‘RIP’ onto the tombstones. Pipe a line of chocolate onto the triangle supports and fix them onto the back of the house. Allow to set.
To assemble, spread the ganache onto the brownies. Place the house with the stand onto the brownies along with the creepy tree and the tombstones. Sprinkle the cookie ‘soil’ over the brownie base. For an eerie touch, place tea light candles behind the skittles windows for a creepy glow.