Haunted Biscuit House

Sieve over the flour and Cocoa Powder and pop in the orange zest. Mix together until the mixture begins to come together and a smooth dough is formed. 

Briefly knead the dough on your work surface lightly dusted with flour and then divide into 3 pieces. Roll your dough out to a thickness approx. ½ cm and using a sharp knife cut out 2 x roof templates, then roll out another piece of dough and cut out 2 x side templates. Roll out the final piece of dough and cut out 2 x front templates. Keep any leftover dough to one side. Pop your cut out dough onto 3 x baking trays lined with grease-proof paper, spaced slightly apart. Cut a couple of windows out of one piece of the front template and a window out of each side template.  

With the remaining dough roll it out and cut out some tomb stone shapes and pop these onto a lined baking tray.

Pop your biscuit dough templates into the fridge and allow to chill for an hour. 

Whilst your biscuits are chilling, lets make the decorations. First up the brushstroke ghosts, line a board or tray with grease-proof paper. Melt the White Chocolate in the microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring well between each burst until your chocolate is melted. Using a teaspoon blob a spoonful of Chocolate onto the grease-proof paper and using a silicone brush or back of the spoon drag/brush the chocolate to create the ghost shape. Repeat until you have used up all the chocolate and pop in the fridge to set. 

Next up, the fondant pumpkins; knead some yellow fondant with a little bit of red fondant to create an orange colour; add more red if the colour is not orange enough. Roll your fondant into small balls and using a cocktail stick add grooves to the sides of the ball to create the pumpkin detail. Make a small green stalk with the green fondant and leave on a piece of grease-proof to firm up. If you have a bat cutter you can cut out some bats using the black fondant and pop into some wire to decorate your haunted house, leave these to firm up with your pumpkins.

10 minutes before your biscuits are ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan oven/gas mark 6. Bake your biscuits for 15 minutes and then remove from the oven and pop the cardboard templates gently on top and trim away any excess biscuit that has spread during baking with a sharp knife. Pop back in the oven to bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 15 minutes and then pop onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Once your biscuits have cooled, make up your royal icing. Rehydrate the sachet of egg white powder following the instructions on pack in a large bowl. Gradually mix in the icing sugar until you have a smooth, thick icing. Transfer into a piping bag and cut a small hole in the end. 

Using the White Decorating icing pipe cobwebs on the front and sides of your house – it is easier to do this whilst the house is dis-mantled. 

Pipe a thick line of royal icing on each seam of the house and begin to build it, adding more royal icing to any gaps. It is easiest to build the front, back and sides of the house and pop onto your serving board and then stick on the roof. 

Stick the matchmakers to the roof of the house, using the royal icing, pipe a few blobs of icing onto the back of a matchmakers and stick onto the roof, repeat until the roof is covered. Cut a few matchmakers to an equal length and stick to the front of the house for the door, add a small ball of black fondant for the door handle.

Use the Decorating Icing to pipe ‘RIP’ onto the tombstones and stick to your serving board using the royal icing. 

Once the ghosts have set draw on the face using the Black Colour Gel and a cocktail stick to draw the features. Stick these onto your house and tombstones using the royal icing – these will melt quite quickly so it is best to stick on just before serving (pop the ghost back in the fridge once you have added their faces.

Crush up the Oreos and scatter around your haunted house, if you have any leftover tombstones cut these up and use as stepping stones. Pop your fondant pumpkins in the Oreo soil and stick your fondant bats to your house using the royal icing if needed. 

You are now ready to go and impress your guests with your Halloween Haunted House masterpiece!