These cookies are used to make our Haunted-House Cake. For cookie dimensions: Photocopy the haunted-house template at 125 percent. Photocopy the spooky tree template at 100 percent. Photocopy the door, tombstone, and triangle stand templates at 100 percent.
Provided by Martha Stewart
Categories Food & Cooking Dessert & Treats Recipes Cookie Recipes
Yield Makes 1 haunted house, 2 doors, 1 spooky tree, 2 triangle stands, and assorted tombstones
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Make the cookies: Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in whole egg, yolk, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in three additions. Shape dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 2 hours (or up to 1 day).
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove 1 disk of dough from refrigerator, and let stand until room temperature. Lightly dust two large sheets of parchment with cocoa powder, and roll out disk of dough between sheets to a 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer to a baking sheet, and freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes. Remove top parchment sheet, and place haunted-house template on dough. Using a craft knife, cut out house. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough and templates.
- Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer parchment with cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.
- Decorate the cookies: Place a large sheet of parchment on a baking sheet, and lightly butter parchment. Transfer cookie house and doors to parchment.
- For the windows, prepare an ice-water bath. Combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush, until syrup comes to a boil. Boil, swirling pan occasionally, until syrup turns medium amber. Immediately remove from heat, and place pan in ice bath. Working quickly, carefully pour some caramel into haunted-house windows, doorway, and door windows, filling each flush with top of cookie. Let stand until cool and hardened.
- For the roof, fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip (#802) with melted bittersweet chocolate. Starting at base of roof, pipe 1 line of chocolate along entire edge, then press shelled sunflower seeds into chocolate in a straight row, pointed edges down. Repeat with chocolate and remaining seeds, "tiling" both roofs, and slightly overlapping rows of seeds.
- Decorate the windows and doors: Cut remaining licorice laces to match dimensions of windows. Halve each lace lengthwise. Pipe thin lines of melted chocolate along window panes. Press licorice into chocolate. Pipe a thin line of chocolate over doorway, and press 4 shelled sunflower seeds into chocolate, centering the unshelled seed in middle. Let set.
- Make the chimney and spires: Cut 1 licorice lace diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a fine plain tip (#1) with royal icing. Carefully flip house over. Make a vertical 1/2-inch cut in bottom half of licorice twist, then cut off 1 flap; insert a piece of licorice lace into top hole of licorice twist. Pipe a 1/2-inch-long vertical line of icing just below edge of top roof, and press flat end of licorice twist against house into icing. Pipe a horizontal line of icing just below top edge of lower roof. Press 1 end of each halved licorice lace into icing to form a row of spires. Let stand until set, about 10 minutes.
- Assemble the cookie house: Using a small offset spatula, spread a thick line of royal icing along the long, straight edge of haunted-house triangle stand. Gently press triangle against back of haunted-house cookie on left-hand side, supporting cookie between two large cans. Repeat with second triangle on right-hand side, and let stand until icing is set, about 30 minutes. Cookie house will keep at room temperature up to 1 week.
- Make the windows and doors: Cut remaining licorice laces to match dimensions of windows. Halve each lace lengthwise. Pipe thin lines of chocolate along window panes. Press licorice into chocolate. Pipe a thin line of chocolate over doorway, and press 4 shelled sunflower seeds into chocolate, centering the unshelled seed in middle. Let stand until set.
- Using a small offset spatula, spread a thick line of royal icing along long, straight edge of haunted-house triangle stand. Gently press triangle against back of haunted-house cookie on left-hand side, supporting cookie between 2 large cans. Repeat with second triangle on right-hand side, and let stand until icing is set, about 30 minutes. (Cookie will keep at room temperature for up to 1 week.)
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ananda gahatraj
[email protected]Overall, I'm really happy with how these cookies turned out. They're a great Halloween treat and they're sure to be a hit with kids and adults alike.
AMIR VEER
[email protected]These cookies are a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen. They're easy to make and they're a lot of fun to decorate.
sabita lama
[email protected]I followed the recipe exactly, but my cookies didn't turn out as pictured. They were still good, but they weren't as visually appealing.
Rashid latif
[email protected]I'm not sure what I did wrong, but my cookies came out flat and hard.
Abdul Qadoos
[email protected]These cookies were a lot of work to make, but they were worth it. They're so cute and delicious!
Noor Ail
[email protected]The Haunted House Chocolate Cookies were a bit dry, but the frosting helped to make them more moist.
Eithnemccabe322 Mccabe
[email protected]These cookies were a little too sweet for my taste, but they were still good.
Jessie Matthews
[email protected]I'm not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies, but these were surprisingly good. The chocolate chips were high quality and the cookies were soft and chewy.
Juliana Awuni
[email protected]These cookies are perfect for Halloween! They're spooky and delicious.
Naqash Manzoor
[email protected]The Haunted House Chocolate Cookies were a fun and easy Halloween treat. My kids loved decorating them.
Ramkrishna Yadav
[email protected]I made these cookies for my Halloween party and they were a huge success! Everyone loved them.
Safina Rani
[email protected]These cookies are a hit! They're so easy to make and they taste delicious. I love the chocolate chips and the spooky decorations.