Halloween Recipe: Ghost Chocolate Brownies

In the UK, Halloween usually falls during half term, so it’s a great excuse to get the kids in the kitchen to whip up some terrifying treats. Recently I’ve been throwing together quick batches of chocolate brownies for my boy, they’re a speedy bake and so popular. I decided to make my regular recipe extra spooky by adding a handful of spooky spectres. Here are my easy ghost chocolate brownies, which make a fine addition to a Halloween party.

Essentially these are regular chocolate brownies, but with spooky ghost shapes popped on top. I cut my brownies into just six very greedy pieces, mostly becasue we’d made quite big ghosts, and party because we just really are that greedy. Sensible people could probably cut their brownies into 12 or even 16 pieces. Just make sure you have a little ghost for each one.

The ghosts are really simple to make. I bought a pack of white royal icing, broke it into small pieces, and then the boy and I made ghost shapes by rolling them out and shaping them. We gave each spectre a spooky face with some black writing icing, which is pretty widely available in supermarkets and online. We had a great time making them, it’s a fun thing to do with the children.

This is my favourite chocolate brownie recipe. It uses very little flour and the brownies are so moreish. A ghostly plate of these brownies is sure to be popular at any Halloween gathering.

Ghost Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

250g milk chocolate
250g unsalted butter
4 medium eggs
250g sugar
2 heaped tablespoons self raising flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
60ml of vegetable oil
1/3 pack of white ready to roll royal icing
1 tube of black writing icing

Halloween Recipe: Ghost Chocolate Brownies

How to make your Ghost Chocolate Brownies:

Pre-heat your oven to 185° and line a deep sided baking dish with baking parchment.

In a bowl, over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and the butter together until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and the eggs, whisk them until they’re light and fluffy.

Pass the flour, cocoa powder through a fine sieve and add to the eggs and sugar. Gently whisk the ingredients together until combined. Then mix in the melted chocolate and the vegetable oil to combine.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the brownies have lost their wobble but are still a bit gooey inside. Take out and leave to cool. You want to almost under bake them so they are still soft in the centre.

Make your royal icing ghost shapes whenever you want. I prefer to make mine a day or two before I need them so they firm up a little. But it’s fine to make them just before you are decorating your brownies.

To make them, cut off blobs of the icing and roll them out. Try and guess the size of ghost you need for each brownie square. Using a spoon or a blunt butter knife, shape them into the kind of spooky shape you want. Put each one on a piece of baking paper so they’re not sticking to your work surface. Using a tube of black writing icing, draw a ghostly face on each one. Set them to one side for now. They can be happily left in the fridge or another cool place for a few days if you’re making them ahead of time.

Halloween Recipe: Ghost Chocolate Brownies

Once the chocolate brownies are cool, cut them into squares and then lay a ghostly figure on top of each square. These are my favourite brownies ever. I urge you to give them a try.

If you enjoyed this, you might also like to try these recipes…

Halloween Recipe: Ghost Chocolate Brownies

Recipe: Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

I am late to the party when it comes to chocolate brownies. I’ve always found them to be either a bit too gooey, or a bit too dry. I’ve discovered that the secret to the perfect brownie is to bake them yourself, that way you are in control of how gooey your brownie is. This week I baked a batch of Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies and after years of being entirely indifferent to brownies, I ended up making the best brownies ever!

Baking brownies is such a lovely thing to do with children, my son loves stirring the chocolate and butter and watching them melt over the gentle heat of the bain marie. He’s 8 now, so only just trusted to do this job knowing the dangers of naked flames, hot water and inattention.

After school on Tuesdays, the boy and I like to have a couple of hours of baking and crafts together. It’s my favourite time of the week, his too I think. Of course, the secret to craft and baking success is planning, something I entirely forgot to do. Thankfully I had everything we needed to bake our usual chocolate brownies with cherries, everything that is apart from the cherries. No fear, I thought, I’ll improvise.

Recipe: Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

Hiding in my coffee cupboard was a bag of marshmallows which I sprinkle on top of hot chocolates. I wondered how they’d be if I used them in the brownies, it turns out they were excellent. You could stir them through the brownie batter, or you can just sprinkle them on top before they go in the oven. They go all toasted and gooey, just like round the campfire.

Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

Ingredients:

250g milk chocolate
250g unsalted butter
4 medium eggs
250g sugar
2 heaped tablespoons self raising flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
60ml of vegetable oil
2 handfuls of Marshmallows

How to make your Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies:

Pre-heat your oven to 185° and line a deep sided baking dish with baking parchment.

In a bowl, over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and the butter together until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and the eggs, whisk them until they’re light and fluffy.

If you want to stir your marshmallows through the batter, do that now. if you want to sprinkle them on top, pour the batter into the baking dish and sprinkle them all over the top.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the brownies have lost their wobble but are still a bit gooey inside. Take out and leave to cool. You want to almost under bake them so they are still soft in the centre.

Once they are cool, cut them into squares, sprinkle them with icing sugar if you prefer. These are my favourite brownies ever. I urge you to give them a try.

Recipe: Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries

Chocolate brownies are universally popular. I know my family absolutely adore them and whenever I make a batch, they usually disappear far too quickly. Brownies are the kind of thing you can easily adapt for different occasions or tastes.

This week I’ve decided to bake the classic – chocolate and cherry brownies, but I gave them a festive twist and baked them with Opies Black Cherries with Luxardo Kirsch. They were so gooey and good – the perfect brownie!

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries

Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries

Ingredients:

250g milk chocolate
250g unsalted butter
4 medium eggs
250g sugar
60ml of vegetable oil
2 heaped tablespoons self raising flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
150g drained Opies Black Cherries with Luxardo Kirsch
2 shots of the Luxardo Kirsch which the cherries had been in

How to make your Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries:

Pre-heat your oven to 185° and line a deep sided baking dish with baking parchment.

In a bowl, over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and the butter together until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and the eggs, whisk them until they’re light and fluffy.

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the brownies have lost their wobble but are still a bit gooey inside. Take out and leave to cool. You want to almost under bake them so it’s still soft in the centre.

Once they are cool, cut them into squares. I sprinkled my brownies with white chocolate stars and icing sugar to make them look a bit more festive.

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries

I did have plans to make cherry chocolate brownie sundaes with them; layering them up with ice cream, whipped cream and drizzling more kirsch and cherries over the top. But I went out to work and when I came home they’d all gone, so you’ll have to use your imagination instead. The sundae sounded pretty tasty in my imagination!

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies with Boozy Cherries

Note: We were sent a jar of Opies Black Cherries with Luxardo Kirsch and I decided to use them in this recipe. I’ve not been compensated for this post.

Gorgeously Gooey Chocolate and Cherry Brownies

Who doesn’t love brownies? These gorgeous Chocolate and Cherry Brownies have a crisp crust and a delicious gooey centre. They are best served warm with a good dollop of vanilla ice cream. Brownies are always a favourite. Whatever the season, brownies never seem to go out of fashion.

Chocolate and Cherry Brownies

Gorgeously Gooey Chocolate and Cherry Brownies

Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 35-40 minutes
Makes about 18

Ingredients
200g butter, cubed
100g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
4 eggs, beaten
425g granulated sugar
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
½ tsp sea salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
100g dried or glace cherries

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c, gas mark 4. Line a small roasting tin with baking parchment.

Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and allow the ingredients to melt either over a pan of barely simmering water or in a microwave on a low heat. Allow to cool slightly.

Place the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl and pour in the melted chocolate and butter mixture. Fold together lightly until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared tin and place in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until a crust forms. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 15-20 minutes. Cut into squares when cooled.

Cooks Tips:
You can add other ingredients in with the cherries if you’d like. Pecans and brazil nuts work well instead of cherries.

Brownies are great to make with kids and a real family treat. Brownies are a good base for all kinds of wacky ideas you or your kids may have. Swap out the cherries and add chunks of Oreos, wedges of Snickers bars or drizzle with caramel and sea salt when they’re fresh from the oven. Make them into Christmas Brownies by adding chunks of chocolate orange and a couple of handfuls of cranberries.

Whatever you choose, they will almost certainly be delicious! How do you like yours?

Chocolate & Cherry Brownies