Haunted Gingerbread House Ideas

Happy Halloween!

My mom loves decorating gingerbread houses. She does one at Christmas and one for Halloween. Last Christmas I did my own gingerbread house and couldn't believe how much fun I had with it. This fall, I did my very first haunted gingerbread house. It was more fun than the Christmas gingerbread house. Now, I don't bake my own gingerbread. One day maybe. For now, I buy the kit at Target. It comes with white, green, and black icing; a gingerbread tombstone; candy corn; candy bats; candy skulls; little candy balls; and a gummy witch's head. I went out and bought more candy for decorating: M&M's, chocolate Twizzlers, fruit slices, extra candy corn, Oreos, pumpkin marshmallows, some Halloween sprinkles, and Wilton Black Gel, and Wilton Red Gel.

Target Kit

The haunted house came in pieces so I asked Eric to put the house together for me since he has more patience for those types of things than me. Wilson kept him company. Now, I have to admit that I wasn't thrilled with the icing that came with the kit. It didn't hold the greatest.

I covered the bottom cardboard in green royal icing I made. The roof and front path are autumn M&Ms. I lined and filled in the windows and door with Wilton gels. The bricks are outlined in neon green royal frosting and filled in with more red gel.

 In the window you see little ghost sprinkles. I used a toothpick and black gel to draw on faces. The grave is crushed Oreo cookies. In the corner is a chocolate Twizzler tree. They are super easy to make. Just cut the candy along the grooves with a pair of scissors. However, if you make the branches too long, they droop.

The witch is my favorite part of the haunted gingerbread house. 

Her head came with the kit. I then used purple/grape fruit slices for her body and arms. Though sticky, you can manipulate gel kind of like molding chocolate. I used green/lime fruit slices for her hands. The broom is made out of a yellow/lemon fruit slice and a piece of Twizzler. 

The jack o' lantern is an adaptation of this Pillsbury recipe.

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups white chocolate chips
16-oz can orange Halloween frosting
small pieces of chocolate Twizzlers


Directions:
In a saucepan, melt the white chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in frosting. Refrigerate for approximately 1 hour.

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Shape the chocolate mixture into falls. Use a toothpick to make a groves in the pumpkin or to carve a face. Insert a piece of Twizzler in the top of each pumpkin as the stem.

I was working with odds and ends (a handful of leftover chips, a little bit of leftover frosting) so my pumpkins didn't come out as nice as they could have. I carved faces in the pumpkins then filled the features in with black gel. I also added a green frosting leaf on top.

Side

Side

Back

 

On the back of the house I molded a ghost out of the cream filling from the Oreos I used to make the grave in the front of the house. I used the black gel to draw on the face.

I also attempted to make a second kind of pumpkin. With more practice I think they could come really cool. Eric made a snowman out of marshmallows for my Christmas gingerbread house. I used the same idea to make these out of orange marshmallows. If you pull on marshmallow like taffy, it turns into a very sticky, malleable substance. So I pulled on the marshmallow, rolled it into balls then froze it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. I then rolled them in orange sugar and stuck a piece of Twizzler in the top. Mine turned out pretty lumpy. I had been working on my house for 6 hours. I was tired and didn't have the patience to make better pumpkins. Next year they'll be better, I promise.

I have a bit of an announcement. This has been an amazing autumn. Beautiful weather, colorful foliage, delicious food . . . but what really made it amazing was that Eric and I got engaged! A fall engagement and hopefully a fall wedding next year.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

For more autumn recipes, click here.

Homemade Candy Corn

Candy corn. It's a love it or hate it kind of candy. My mom loves it. Eric could eat it by the truck load. One small handful and I'm good until next year. But I have friends who venomously hate this autumn candy, who can go on a ten minute rant about how much they hate this candy. However, this homemade candy might just change their minds. They taste like candy corn, but like a better vanilla-y, buttery version. Plus, there's a great versatility to these candies. Swap out the vanilla extract for peppermint extract, change the colors, and you have candy corn for Christmas.

I found this recipe on a few different websites, but here's the one I used with a few minor changes.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup non-fat milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Red food coloring
Yellow food coloring

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, milk powder, and salt. (Sifting is very important) Set aside.

Over high heat bring corn syrup, granulated sugar, butter, and vanilla extract to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the mixture just begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-high. Stirring frequently, bring the mixture to 228 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from heat.

Gradually stir in the sugar mixture until it's completely incorporated. Now I'm going to be honest with you, doing this with a spatula wasn't easy. I finally got to the point to where I kneaded the rest of the sugar mixture into the dough (for lack of a better word). If you decided to do this, be very careful. The dough is still quite hot and can burn you. I only handled it for maybe 10-15 seconds at a time.

Once the sugar mixture is completely incorporated, place the dough on a piece of wax paper for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is cool enough to handle.

I halved the recipe so you'd half twice as much dough if you prepare the entire recipe.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces and place each in its own bowl. Add about 3 drops of yellow food coloring to one of the bowls and knead the color into the dough. If you're worried about staining your hands, use gloves, but the food coloring washed right off my hands. Add about 2 drops of yellow food coloring and 2 drops of red food coloring to the second bowl and knead it into the dough to make orange dough. Leave the third bowl uncolored.

Roll out a large piece of wax paper over your work area. If you want, you can roll three ridiculously long, thin ropes of dough (one in each color) or you can do what I did and work in batches. If working in batches, make sure to cover any unused dough with plastic wrap or else it will dry out. Line the ropes up so they form a long rectangle with white on top, yellow in the middle, and orange on the bottom. Press the ropes together and flatten them a little. Using a knife, cut the rope into little triangles. Half of your pieces will look like normal candy corn (white-yellow-orange) and the other half with look like inverted candy corns (orange-yellow-white). I won't lie, this is a time consuming process, but the end result is so cute and delicious, it's worth the effort.

Aren't  they cute?

Store the candy corn in an airtight container, making sure to separate the layers with waxed paper. Keep container at room temperature.

The original recipe says that this makes 100 pieces. However, that all depends on how thin you roll your ropes. With each batch my candy corns kept getting bigger and bigger.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Also Check These Fall Recipes:  
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Pumpkin Caramels
Pumpkin-Black Bean Stew with Spicy Sausage
Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Brownies

Pumpkin Caramels!

Happy First Day of Autumn!

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I don't think there is anything about autumn that I don't love. I mean, fall has the best weather, the best clothes, the prettiest foliage, not to mention Halloween. It is without a doubt my favorite time of year. It's also when I'm most inspired to cook. I can't go to the grocery store without gasping at all the pumpkins, squashes, and apples.

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Now there's some autumn recipes that I have to make every year. Top on the list is my Cinnamon-Sugar Pastries with Pumpkin Dip. Eric absolutely loves it. I'll probably make it at least twice before Thanksgiving just for him. And we always carve pumpkins which mean Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Then I have to make my Baked Potato Soup. It just screams out fall. Since apple cider will (finally) be in season, I must remake my Apple Cider Cake that I baked in February for Eric's birthday; this time with real apple cider instead of the powdered mix. But I also have a list the length of my arm (only a slight exaggeration) of new recipes to test out this autumn season. And chances are it's only going to continue to grow. I'm sure I won't get to them all, but I'll try my damnedest, beginning with . . . Pumpkin Caramels!

I made sea salt caramels last Christmas and they were amazing. I gave them as gifts and had to hide them from Eric or else he would have eaten them all. Everyone loved them. I had never even heard of pumpkin caramels until Pinterest. I tracked down a recipe that appealed to me, made a few changes, and here it is. Who knew homemade caramels could get any better?

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut in chunks
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:
Line an 8x8-inch glass baking pan with wax paper and grease it with butter. Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, heat the heavy cream, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice over medium-high heat. Stir and combine well. You want to get the mixture hot but not boiling. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large heavy-bottomed pan with sides that are at least 4 inches high (I used a stock pot), combine the sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, and water. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, continue to cook the mixture until it reaches 248 degrees on a candy thermometer. Occasionally swirl the saucepan but refrain from stirring the mixture.

When the temperature reaches 248 degrees, slowly and carefully stir in the cream-pumpkin mixture. The mixture will bubble so be careful not to burn yourself. When the caramel reaches 230 degrees, stir continuously. When the temperature hits 244, remove from heat, and stir in butter chunks and lemon juice. Continue to stir until the butter is completely incorporated into the caramel.

Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Allow the caramel to cool and set for at least 2 hours. Cut into 1-inch squares and wrap the pieces in wax paper.

I cannot even begin to describe how amazing these caramels are. I may have to make a second batch for Thanksgiving.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Also Check These Fall Recipes:  
Acorn Donuts
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Pumpkin Bread!
Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls
Pumpkin Penn Casserole
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies