Ooey Gooey Graveyard

An Ooey Gooey Graveyard to satisfy a sweet tooth and a creepy-cute Halloween party treat!

I often complain about my lack of creativity and whine about just not being good enough for any sort of creative endeavor. With as many blogs as I read on an almost daily basis, it’s easy to see why I sometimes feel inadequate-there are just SO MANY creative, talented people out there in blogland.  When I saw the contest tab on Nestle’s Facebook page I knew that it was time to step up my proverbial baking game and join the masses.  It took forever to come up with an idea….I searched through old issues of Halloween magazines for inspiration, surfed the web to see what’s been done {believe me, it’s all been done!}, and finally, it came to me:  The ooey gooey graveyard. The chocolate chip cookie and brownie combo had me at hello!

You’ll need:

1 boxed brownie mix
1 32 oz. package of  refrigerated Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough
Nestle chocolate chips
Nestle white chocolate chips
Cake decorating bag & tips {or use a plastic baggie}

Method:

Heat oven to 350.
Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper.  Butter or spray with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Prepare brownies according to package directions.  Pour into baking pan.  Crumble cookie dough over top of brownie batter, leaving gaps as cookie dough will spread as it begins to bake.  Bake for 50-55 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out without any brownie batter.  You may have to cover with tin foil if cookie layer begins to brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  In the meantime, prepare the graves and chocolate tree.

Melt chocolate chips according to package directions.  Pour into piping bag.  On a sheet of wax paper, draw out gravestones with white chocolate. Free hand some white chocolate bones {Thom said mine looked like rattles}  Place in refrigerator until set.

For the tree:  I used my Cricut to cut out a spooky Halloween tree.  I placed it under the waxed paper and used the melted chocolate chips to trace the tree.  Place in the ‘fridge to set.

Pipe some chocolate fence posts.

To assemble:

Use a sharp knife to cut slits into cookie layer.  Insert gravestones and tree.  For the grave-dig a rectangular hole and mound the cookie/brownie beside it. Place bones into grave.  Using melted chocolate as a “glue” stick fence posts to side of brownie/cookie.

Notes:

*The tree started to soften fairly quickly, so next time I think I’d use candy melts.
*I did have to add a popsicle/craft stick to the back of the tree for support

So…I didn’t make it into the top ten {from there, the public would vote for a fave}, but I did have a lot of fun coming up with the idea….and even more fun eating it after all the pics were taken!!