Halloween tombstone brownies

Prep: 60 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Halloween tombstone brownies
I know that these looks look a bit painful and hard to make but honestly, they are really easy as each of the parts are simple to make.   You are essentially making a brownie, a cookie (for the tombstone) and chocolate icing.  They are worth the effort as any Hallowe'en party will rock with these guys on the table. 

Brownie Ingredients

165g butter, plus extra for greasing
200g dark chocolate, grated or finely chopped
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla extract
165g soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar, for dusting

Headstones Ingredients

90g soft unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 large eggs
185g plain flour

½ tsp vanilla extract

15g cocoa powder (sieved)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Chocolate Icing Ingredients

60g dark chocolate

30g unsalted butter

1 egg

250g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Decoration Ingredients

Tube of white writing icing

Green sprinkles

Jellies such as pumkpins, skeletons etc

To make the brownies:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4, with the middle shelf ready. Grease the baking tin, then line with baking paper with the paper overlapping the sides a little.

Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the grated chocolate. Leave to stand for a few minutes until the chocolate goes soft then stir together. Alternatively, you can put the chocolate and butter in bowl and melt in the microwave in 25-second blasts, stirring well each time.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla together in a large bowl until they begin to get light and fluffy. Add the sugar in two additions whisking between each. Pour it around the side of the egg mix so as not to knock out the air that has been whisked in to it. Keep whisking until the mixture becomes stiffer. Once the egg mixture is ready pour the chocolate into it, again around the sides so as not to knock the air out.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt and stir until fully combined, then pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes. The middle should be very so slightly gooey.

Leave the brownies to cool in the tin. The top will sink and crack a little. Pull the brownies out using the overlapping paper and cut the brownies into rectangles. 

To make the tombstones:

Heat your oven to 180⁰C/350⁰F/gas mark 4 and lightly grease two baking trays. 

Cream the caster sugar, brown sugar and butter together until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix briefly.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Next the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs and mix gently. The mixture will form a dough.

If it is too sticky, add a little more flour (be sparing).

Bring the dough together into a disk, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 1 hour. 

Cut the dough into 2 pieces and freeze one piece for use at another time.

Roll out the dough to approximately a half of a centimetre thick.

Using floured Halloween tombstone shaped cookie cutters cut 8 biscuits out and place on the baking tray. If you don't have this shape, just use a knife. Collect up the trimmings and re-roll to cut out as many biscuits as you can - you can make ordinary shape cookies with left over trimmings. 

Bake for between 8 and 10 minutes in the preheated oven until golden.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

Ice the tombstone biscuit with RIP or any words you might like to use - use the tubes of shop bought white writing icing to do this. Allow to set. 

To make the chocolate icing:

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of water.

Whilst doing this sieve the icing sugar.

Beat the eggs into the chocolate and butter mixture then add the icing sugar and beat really well.

Add the vanilla extract and mix - the icing should be relatively stiff.

Leave to cool slightly before icing the cake. 

To assemble:

Take a brownie and spread a little chocolate icing at one end of it (this will act as a glue for your tombstone biscuit).

Ice the top of the brownie also.  Use the back of a teaspoon to give a rough muck finish. 

Stick one of the tombstone biscuits to the brownie grave and set it on your large serving plate with a little chocolate icing underneath to hold it in place. 

After this, decoration is up to you - they look great as they are OR you can pipe some icing from the shop bought icing tubes to create some tufts of grass.  We used white fondant, added some orange food paste to create our pumpkins.  

Decorate with jellies. 

Serves
8

Preparation Time
60 minutes

Cooking Time
25 minutes

Main ingredients
Flour, Chocolate, Eggs

Recipe Type
Cakes & Baking, Kids Food

Special Info
Nut free

Level of Difficulty
Fiddly

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