Happy Halloween (Haunted Cookie House)

Happy Halloween (Haunted Cookie House)

Perhaps the title of this post should actually be “Proof that things don’t always go the way I had planned.”

Last week I got the sudden inspiration to decorate a haunted gingerbread house. I think I might have spotted a haunted house kit in a kitchen catalog or something, and it made me determined to make my own.  Crazy things like that happen in my kitchen a lot.

I spent a while researching haunted house pictures online and developed the pattern for my house.  While it was not as elaborate as some I have seen, I think it was a step up from the gingerbread house I decorated last Christmas.

I didn’t want to do gingerbread, though… While I love the rustic brown color of gingerbread for Christmas, it’s not really the color that comes to mind when I think of Halloween.  Instead, I used my standard sugar cookie recipe but added quite a bit of dark cocoa powder to give a greyish black/brown color.  (I also left out the baking powder so that the cookies wouldn’t rise/spread at all… I didn’t plan on eating them anyway). The color turned out perfectly.

To go along with the greyish brown/black color of the house, I used the same dark cocoa powder to color the royal icing I used to asemble the house.  I added a bit of black gel food coloring to adjust the color a bit so that the icing on the seams of the house would match the color of the cookies.  I thought it would also make a great background color for the windows and doors.

All was going well until I decided that it would be better to pipe all of the windows, doors, and other decorations for the house onto waxed paper instead of directly onto the cookies that I was using to assemble the house.  It seemed like a good idea in theory… I was afraid that some of the pieces might break while I was trying to assemble the house (and a few did!) and I didn’t want to mess up the decorations in the process.

The only problem was that the decorations that I piped on the waxed paper never dried correctly (after drying for almost 24 hours).  I was able to salvage a few to decorate the house, but most of them just ended up in a big sticky mess.

I also learned a few other things in the process…  There’s a reason why I prefer cookies to cakes.  It’s much easier to pipe on a flat surface than on the side of a haunted house.  And, though I’m not great at it, I love old-school piping. I could have added string-work to everything, but tried to edit my impulses and just added it to the roof.

All things considered, it was a fun project and I had a good time decorating, even if the end result wasn’t quite what I had planned.  After all, this was really just practice for the giant gingerbread house I am planning for Christmas… But, you knew that, right?!

29 comments

  1. How darling!~ You must be terribly proud of the results.

  2. maria says:

    Ok, you are AMAZING! This is the coolest house ever! Nice job!

  3. Romy says:

    WOW!! So cool – this must have taken you a whole day and more! Happy Halloween to you, Jen!

  4. Gail says:

    You did an EXCELLENT job!!!! You could have piped on the windows, etc, directly onto the sides of the house before assembling. Trying to figure out why your ‘plaques’ didn’t dry properly. Maybe too big? Maybe color oversaturated? Black is tricky. But, you should be so proud of yourself. I am!!!

  5. OMGosh Jenn! You did a fan-flippin’-tastic job on the haunted house! I’m SOOO impressed with your work!
    You rocked this one out of the park!

  6. Oh Jen that haunted cookie house looks amazing! You did a fantastic job!

  7. You did an absolutely fabulous job on this house! It had to have been so much fun to put together too. Happy Halloween!

  8. Nic says:

    Wow, cool Halloween house!

  9. Tracey says:

    Love it Jen! Happy Halloween to you too :)

  10. cat says:

    wow, that is gorgeous!!! i would love to try making something like this with my girls next year. i’m so impressed!!
    happy halloween!

  11. Wow, you’re amazing! This is too cute!

  12. Paula says:

    I know how much work went into making this and all your efforts paid off in spades! Your haunted house with all it’s detail is fantastic. I love your pumpkins scattered on the lawn and your candy corn roof shingles. Just wonderful. Happy Halloween :)

  13. Kare says:

    This is spectacular!

  14. Happy Halloween! Very impressive Jen, your haunted cookie house looks amazing! Can’t wait to see the giant house you plan to make for Christmas! :)

  15. Mags says:

    That is adorable! I love it!

  16. Beyond impressed and can’t wait to see what you make for Christmas!

  17. wow, this is very very very impressive!! i love it

  18. WOW!! The house turned out amazing!! So fun!

  19. Tracy says:

    Oh my goodness Jen, the house is incredible! I love all the little details, especially the windows…you are so talented! :-)

  20. Laura says:

    You have the patience of a saint! Fantastic job!

  21. Dana says:

    All righty. Can you come to our house and pretend you are me for a bit? This is SO not my area of expertise. Taste, yes – looks, no. There is no way that I could create something so amazing, as much as my boys want me to. Fantastic job!

  22. megan says:

    What a terrific house. I love the color of it and all the decorations. You did Halloween houses proud!
    Thumbs up!

  23. Very cute! Perfect for Halloween..obviously :)

  24. Jen this is absolutely incredible! I bow down to your baking and decorating prowess!

  25. Wow! You really detailed that one! Amazing work!!

    PS. I just liked you on Facebook! :)

  26. Ahh you musn’t be so hard on yourself! This haunted house is absolutely amazing…Halloween is one of the best holidays of the year. Great work:) I could NEVER pull that off

  27. That house looks incredible!! About the royal icing decoration, you could try placing it under a heat lamp next time. I live in a super humid area, so I have to resort to it many times!!

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