Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead is a holiday for remembering and honoring those who have passed. It’s a festive, joyous time of celebration and one of Mexico’s most important holidays. Dia de los Muertos falls on November 1 and 2, coinciding with the Catholic holidays All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

Sugar skulls are sold in markets and made at home. Contrary to the halloween skull symbol, they are happy, vibrant candies that are often smiling or laughing. The bright colors and sparkly decorations on the sugar skulls are cheerful enough to clear away any fear of death.  The icing colors are bright yellow, hot pink, neon blue, vivid orange and glowing green. It’s a holiday of love and remembrance.

This house is made from a gingerbread house kit. If you don’t have a pre-baked kit handy, or prefer to bake your own, use the pattern for Anna’s House (click here). You’ll need the front, back, sides and roof panels. The other bits you can discard.

Cover the House in Black Fondant

Now, this is a DIY website and we all love creating from scratch. It’s cheaper for one thing, and fun to boot!

And yes, we did just cheat a little by using a tough-as-nails-and-just-as-tasty gingerbread house kit. Well, prepare yourself to cheat again because you’re headed to the hobby store or Walmart to purchase pre-colored black fondant.

While copious amounts of black food coloring can turn white fondant black, it will also stain your hands, counter, and apron. Let’s not even talk about the carpal tunnel factor from kneading it in. It is a simple affair to tint fondant pastel colors, but here you want a dark, rich, bold black. Please buy the black fondant. It’s so much easier and only marginally more expensive. Just do it.

A fine dusting of cornstarch keeps fondant from sticking to the counter, rolling pin, and your hands. Unfortunately, it looks like chalk dust on the black fondant. To keep the white powder as fine and even as possible, make a dusting pouch. Tie up ¼ cup of corn starch inside a few layers of cheesecloth. As you knead and roll the fondant, dab the pouch on your work surface and rolling pin to prevent sticking.

Roll out pieces of black fondant to a ¼” thickness. Slide the gingerbread piece under it, and make a rough cut around the cookie.

Remove the fondant scraps and further trim the fondant so that it exactly covers the top of the cookie. Make sure the sides of each gingerbread piece show some “naked” cookie. When you cement this puppy together you want the icing to join gingerbread-to-gingerbread without any interference from the fondant.

Spread a layer of piping gel on the face of the gingerbread, and place the fondant on top. Use your hand and a light gliding motion to smooth the fondant down into the gel.

 Brush away any remaining cornstarch.

If you still have that dusty chalkboard look, dampen a paper towel and polish the surface of the fondant. This removes the last speckles of cornstarch and leaves a glistening, damp surface. Let it dry completely before continuing on. The used paper towel will look like a chimney sweep’s handkerchief.  That black food coloring in the fondant will seep into any dampness, including icing you add for decoration. It’s absolutely essential that you pipe royal icing onto a completely dry piece of black fondant.

Make White Chocolate Skulls

Called “calaveras de azúcar” in Spanish, sugar skulls are sold everywhere in the weeks leading up to Day of the Dead. Market stalls are lined with rows and rows of colorful skulls, created from sugar and decorated with multi-colored icing, sequins, glitter and foil.

I also molded some skulls from sugar, but prefer the bright white skulls made from white chocolate.

Use “Bright White” Candy Melts so the bones that will be as white as your royal icing. The White Candy Melts look a bit like ivory in comparison. Put a small handful of melts in a disposable decorating bag. Microwave this for 40 seconds, remove it, and knead the candy. You may need to zap it in additional 10 second increments.

When you have a bag of liquid white chocolate, snip a tiny bit off the end and fill the mold’s skull depressions. Tap the mold on the table several times to remove any air bubbles, then put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Take the chilled mold from the freezer. Hold it about an inch over the counter and tap it gently to release the chocolates.

For the official instructions, visit the Wilton site or click here.

Make Royal Icing

To save time, I’ll direct you to a royal icing recipe and tutorial from Marian of Sweetopia.

Click here for royal icing recipes on www.sweetopia.net.

You can see some of Marian’s fantastic-amazing-astounding gingerbread houses here.

Adjust the Icing Consistency

You’ll need two consistencies of icing.

Thick icing is the cement that joins the four walls and roof of the house.  You’ll need enough to assemble the house and pipe some borders.

The second icing consistency is what I call a loose medium consistency. It’s loose enough to pipe dots without peaks, yet it’s stiff enough to hold it’s shape. Check out Julia Usher’s outstanding video and blog tutorials on royal icing consistency. She’s a phenomenal artist, and every cookie she creates is executed with smart precision.

Click here for Julia’s video on icing consistency.

Click here for Julia’s blogged tutorial on icing consistency. Read the last paragraph on “bead consistency”.

Subscribe to Julia’s content while you’re there. You won’t be disappointed!

Color the Icing

Use black paste or gel food coloring to color the thick icing black.  You’ll need enough icing to assemble the house and pipe a borders around the roof edges and the wall joints. The black color will darken if you’re able to let the icing rest for 1+ hours.

Now for the “bead consistency” or medium loose icing. I used five colors – red, pink, orange, blue, and white. Put 1/2 cup of icing into each of 5 teacups. Use gel or paste food colors to create your colors. To make the white icing extra bright for a strong white/black contrast, you can actually color it white. Weird, right? I thought so too, but it really makes an amazing difference. Americolor sells a soft gel paste food coloring in Bright White. Bridget of Bake at 350 explains things better than I can, and has a photo of the bottle, so click here! She’s another cookie maven with an irresistible blog, so promise me that you’ll eventually return to the Gingerbread Journal!

Pipe the Designs

Start with the door, continue to the windows, then add shutters.

Fill up the remaining space with dots, lines, hearts, squiggles, scrolls, flowers, and vines. If piping isn’t your cup of tea, don’t hesitate to do the entire house with dots. Or attach small candies with black icing instead. Tic Tacs, the segments from candy necklaces, large sprinkles, and other Halloween treats make excellent decor. I put three chocolate skulls on the back of the house, but you could add more skulls to the front and sides. Any bright or white candy will contrast nicely with the black fondant.

Attach the white chocolate skulls and outline them with colored dots and teardrops.

Be creative with the roof panels! For super-straight rows, use a non-toxic graphite pencil and straight edge to sketch straight lines across the fondant.

There’s no reason for identical roofs. Roof panel #2 is another blank canvas awaiting your creativity.

Here’s a charming example of candy decoration from Julie McDuff of Jolies Gourmandises. Check out her other gingerbread houses on the Jolies Gourmandises Facebook page or her Flick Photostream.

Let it Dry

Allow your beautiful piping to dry completely.

Assemble the House

I’ll to direct you to my Valentine’s Day House Tutorial, Part 2 for assembly instructions.

The dimensions and methods for the houses are identical. Use thick, black royal icing. Make certain you allow the four walls to dry at least an hour before attaching the roof.

Here’s the assembled house; it looks remarkably finished.

Pipe a roof ridge with white icing. I used petal tip #102 to pipe two ruffles and then a central vine. Pipe some type of border (I used an open star tip) to cover the joints of the walls and roof edges. Pipe black icing to cover the edges of the roof (again, an open star tip).

Thanks for joining me,

Kristine

Rice Crispie Houses are quick, easy, and guaranteed to bring smiles to that special set of goblins you’d like to treat. Make your own cereal treats, cut, decorate and dry. It’s just that easy!

Make the Rice Cereal Treats

The sheet of treats you see below uses two full recipes of treats, but don’t double things. Make one recipe at a time. Click here for the recipe.

Line a 9’x13″ baking pan with aluminum foil. Grease the foil with cooking spray.

Mix up one recipe of Treats and press them firmly down into the pan. Cover the entire bottom, and keep pressing. I usually surrender to the task, and butter one hand so I can really pack those little rice puffs together. Or spray a piece of waxed paper with cooking spray and use that to press the mess. You want dense, compact treats.

Mix up a second recipe of Treats, and press them on top of the first layer. Even things out, leaving the top smooth and level. Again, the buttered hand or greased waxed paper will do the trick.

Let the treats cool completely. A brief stint in the fridge or freezer speeds this along.

Download the Mini Treat House Template here.

Print out two copies. Cut out the houses sections and tape the templates together like I did below.

Cut the Houses

Using the template as a guide, slice the cereal treats into house-shaped pieces.

The template is slightly smaller than your sheet of rice crispie treats so you can trim the edges as needed.  Having right angles at each juncture keeps the bottoms of the houses flat.

See the two extra half-houses that you’ll cut? They’re right above and below the template in the photo below. Squeeze them together to form another house. The house on the far right is made from two halves.

Set the houses upright and check that each sits solidly. If not, squeeze and push a bit until you have stable houses.

MAKE ROYAL ICING

To save some time, I’m going to direct you to a royal icing recipe and tutorial from Marian of Sweetopia.

Click here for royal icing recipes on www.sweetopia.net.

You can see some of Marian’s fantastic-amazing-astounding gingerbread houses here.

You’ll need orange icing for the doors and decoration. Mix up and a light cream colored icing for attaching candies to the house. I used a tiny amount of Ivory and a minuscule amount of Egg Yellow gel colors to match the Rice Krispie color.

Pipe the Doors

Pipe oval doors with orange royal icing and a #12 round tip. Press in silver dragees or other small candies for doorknobs.

Gather the Candies

Make Candy Skulls & Bones

Use “Bright White” Candy Melts for bones that will be as bright white as your royal icing. The White Candy Melts look a bit ivory in comparison. Place a handful of melts in a disposable decorating bag. Microwave this for 40 seconds, remove it, and knead the candy. You may need to zap it in additional 10 second increments.

When you have a bag of liquid white chocolate, snip a tiny bit off the end and begin filling the mold’s depressions. While the mold has ribcages, feet with legs, pelvises, and arms with hands, I only made the skull and long-bone chocolates. Tap the mold on the table several times to remove any air bubbles, then put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Take the chilled mold from the freezer. Hold it about an inch over the counter and tap it gently to release the chocolates.

For the official instructions, visit the Wilton site or click here.

Decorate the Houses – Roofs First!

Begin with the roof of each house.  That way you can pick up and maneuver the rice crispy treat freely without knocking off other decorations. Use ample amounts of icing to attach candies, especially bigger, smoother candies like jelly beans.

When you’ve finished the roofs, lay a piece of parchment or waxed paper down to hold the houses as they dry.

Using that Rice-Krispie colored royal icing, add gumdrop trees, candy corn, white chocolate bones & skulls, and bat sprinkles, until those little treats are encrusted with Halloween bling. Choose candies with at least one flat side to make it easier to keep them firmly attached. Gum balls, for example, will fall off quickly even when the icing’s dry. You can see the candy corn and spearmint leaves in the photo above have long, flat surfaces to hold icing.

On this house I added rectangular cookies to make a smooth roof. Then I piped orange dots, dipped the dots in sprinkles, and piped an orange zigzag border. Populares cookies by Gamesa (see the package here) make great roofs, as do graham crackers.

The house below sports caramel flavored candy corn for roof tiles and a Peeps marshmallow ghost. If you use gumdrops on the corners, like these pumpkins, trim one-third of the drop away to make an inverse corner. This anchors the candy so it’s less likely to detach. I used a pair of cooking shears to trim marshmallow volume off the back of the ghost. The green gumdrops are also halved.

Cut the string on a candy necklace for  tiny orange, purple, and green donut-tiles. I’m informed by a certain youngster who knows way too much math that these are shaped like a torus (tori, plural, so tori-tiles?). I love the tori-tiles because sugar pearls or silver dragees attach in the middle so effortlessly. And they form such straight rows and columns!

Chocolate flavored Twizzlers cover this roof. Cut the top of each segment at a 45 degree angle so the sides of the roof meet in a point. And now that it’s too late, wouldn’t the eyes of the white chocolate skull look cool with flowers in the empty orbits? Next year…..

Let the Houses Dry

Set each house on the waxed paper and allow them to dry completely. Royal icing can dry overnight, but may take longer in humid air. Use a fan to speed things up.

Wrap these in plastic bags, tie with a ribbon, and they’re ready for gifting!

Thanks for joining me today, and Happy Halloween!

Kristine

If you’re like me, there are times you don’t want to turn on the oven. Gingerbread houses built from graham crackers have been around for ages, and they remain a quick, easy alternative to baking.

Build the House

To make an internal form for this house, we’ll connect two almond milk cartons with hot glue.

Rinse the cartons with water, let them dry, and push the milk spouts inside. Use low-temperature hot glue to join the them together as shown.  You don’t have to use milk cartons — any clean cardboard box rigid enough to hold the weight of the graham crackers, candy, and some icing should work.

To create a food-safe surface for the graham crackers, cover the cartons completely with aluminum foil. Make sure the foil fits snugly, and use hot glue to attach it to, and around the cartons. Leave the bottom surface uncovered because we’ll glue that directly to the base.

And this is the most important step in making your understructure —- gluing it securely to the base. Don’t skimp on the glue. Often, you can pry cool glue up without damaging a base. If in doubt, use a thrift store plate for the base. I used a thin, wooden cutting board here.

Now you have a light, clean house on which to mount the graham crackers.

Make Royal Icing

To save some time, I’m going to direct you to a royal icing recipe and tutorial from Marian of Sweetopia.

Click here for royal icing recipes on www.sweetopia.net.

You can see some of Marian’s fantastic-amazing-astounding gingerbread houses here.

Add the Graham Crackers

Use plenty of thick royal icing to attach graham crackers to the house form. Start at the bottom and work up. Score the crackers with a serrated knife and snap them apart when you need shorter pieces. Cover all four walls and the roof.

Add a Licorice Roof

Actually, I added a chocolate roof of Chocolate Twizzlers. Who can resist chocolate? Black licorice will work also, but around here, chocolate wins every time.

The Twizzler factory pinches the candy into strips as it exits an extruder. This means that both ends of the candy have been pushed flat and the corners stick out. So, cut both of the ends off. Trimming the ends allows each licorice strand to cuddle right up against the previous strand.

Now cut the licorice into strips long enough to cover your roof. Lay the candy out in a row, to check that you’ve cut enough lengths.

In keeping with the chocolate theme, I used chocolate instead of royal icing to attach the Twizzlers. Put a cup of milk chocolate chips in a coffee mug and microwave it for 45-60 seconds. Stir it up into a paste.

Cover one small section of the roof with melted chocolate. You can see below that the chocolate fumes overcame me, and I covered an entire side of the roof. Big mistake. In the time it took me to snap a photo, the chocolate cooled. I couldn’t add more candy without spreading on some more chocolate. The extra layer made my roof a bit uneven.

Press on the Twizzler strands. If the chocolate is too liquid, wait a few seconds for it to cool, then try again.

Make Chocolate Windows

Slice apart the squares of a large chocolate bar. This is a Walgreens brand chocolate bar with toffee chips. Pipe a cross to form window panes and outline each square with dots or zigzags.

Cut chocolate Twizzlers to outline the windows.

Add a semi-circle of candy corn with an orange sixlet in the middle.

Add the Windows, Door, and Tombstones

Color about a cup of royal icing light tan to match the graham crackers. I used almost equal parts of Brown and Egg Yellow gel food color. Use this to attach the windows, tombstones & ghosts (Peeps marshmallow candies), door, orange-and-yellow candy sticks, and any other decorations. My door is from a Walgreens brand caramel filled bar.

Use substantial amounts of icing to attach each candy. Big dabs, not thin streaks. We want those candies to stay put, even in dry Fall weather.  The excess icing that squeezes out is camouflaged by the tan color.

Decorate the Door

A half-circle of candy corn, an orange Spree, and a line of orange large confetti sprinkles complete the door decor.

Decide where the doorknob belongs and twirl the sharp point of a knife into the chocolate to drill out a small hole. Add an orange sugar pearl or other small candy as the doorknob.

Ok, I have to admit that the proportions on this house are odd. It’s a two-story mansion but the decorations above the door and windows didn’t leave enough room for anything upstairs. My intent was to have this lend a spooky, weird, off-balance charm because, hey, it’s Halloween! But somehow the charm escaped me and it’s just looks odd. To balance things out, add a candy garland under each edge of the roof.

Orange slices are chunky, so slice them in half to create a thinner candy. You can use the backs, or leave them in a bowl on the counter. They’ll magically evaporate when the family comes home. A large, orange confetti sprinkle connects each slice to the next one. Orange tic-tacs or sixlets are great for this too.

Pipe a tan shell border around the roof.  Pipe it on the sides of the house (not the edges of the licorice), then add the candy garland below.

Once again, use a generous amount of tan icing to  attach the candy.

Pipe tan shells to cover the graham cracker joints at the four corners of the house.

Add Landscaping

Dried parsley flakes add just the right color and texture to suggest Fall grass. For the icing, use Forest Green food color, or Leaf Green with a touch of Black. Working in small sections, spread a thin layer of icing and press in the flakes. I always start at the back of the house, to practice the technique, then finish in front.

Add a border of green royal icing shells, a few swirly shrubs, and some gumdrop pumpkins.

Thanks for joining me, and Happy Halloween!

Kristine