How To Make a Halloween Haunted House

Makes 1 (9-inch-tall) cookie house

What You Need

Ingredients

For the chocolate cookie pieces:
5 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup black cocoa powder
1/4 Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the icing:
3 ounces meringue or egg white powder (about 6 tablespoons)
3/4 cup cold water
7 1/3 cups (2 pounds) powdered sugar
Yellow food coloring (optional)
1/2 cup black cocoa powder (optional)

Optional extras:
Black sprinkles
Black edible glitter
Luster dust
A flameless tea light

Equipment
Stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer
Mixing bowls
Measuring cups and spoons
Paring knife
4 rimmed baking sheets
3 piping bags or zip-top plastic bags
Piping tips (optional)
Parchment paper
2 to 4 cooling racks
Scissors
Small offset spatula
Pizza cutter or sharp knife
Rolling pin
Decorative cookie cutters such as mini gingerbread man, tombstone, and cats
10-inch cake plate or cake stand or other platter for building the house

Instructions

Make the Cookie Dough

1. Prepare the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, dark cocoa, Dutch cocoa, espresso powder if using, baking powder, and salt into a separate mixing bowl.
2. Cream together the butter and sugars. Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or if you are using hand mixer, in a large mixing bowl, until very light in color and fluffy in texture.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla. Add the egg to the creamed butter mixture and mix to incorporate. Add the vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the flour and cocoa mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the dough begins to come together. Remove it from the mixer bowl and separate into four equal portions. Gently press each into a flat disc, about 1/2 inch in height.
5. Roll out the dough. Have 8 large sheets of parchment paper ready on a work surface. Place 1 disc of dough on a sheet of parchment, then cover with a second sheet of parchment. Roll the dough between the parchment sheets until it is 1/8-inch thick. Repeat with each disc, stacking the rolled-out sheets on a baking sheet as each one is ready.
6. Chill the dough. Refrigerate the dough sheets for at least 1 hour. If you plan to cut and bake your dough the following day, tightly wrap the baking sheet in plastic wrap for longer-term storage.

Cut and Bake the Cookie Pieces

1. Print and cut out the templates. This recipe includes 3 patterns for your cookie house: 1 side wall, 1 front and back wall, and 1 roof. Print out 2 copies of each pattern, then cut the shapes out of each one.
2. Preheat the oven. Arrange 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds and heat to 350°F. Get out as many baking sheets as you have. Tip: You can reuse one or more of the top pieces of parchment from rolling the cookies for baking and for re-rolling.
3. Cut out the front and back. Remove 2 sheets of the rolled cookie dough from the refrigerator and place on a work surface or cutting board. Remove the top pieces of parchment and set aside. Place the 2 front and back template pieces directly on the dough and use a sharp paring knife to trace and cut out the pieces. Remove the excess dough around the piece and set aside. Cut out a piece for the door, then remove the door piece to a plate and refrigerate to bake later with smaller cut-outs at the very end. Cut out any windows you'd like to have in the front or back (if you cut tombstone-shaped windows, they can be baked and used as tombstone decorations), and add the dough you remove to the other excess dough. Carefully transfer each parchment with the front and back pieces onto a baking sheet.
4. Bake the front and back pieces. Bake until the pieces become extra dark on the edges, around 18 minutes. Don't worry about rotating the cookie trays halfway through; simply let them bake. While the front and back pieces bake, gather up the scraps of dough, re-roll between parchment sheets, and refrigerate again.
5. Cool and trim. Remove from the oven. While still warm, use a sharp paring knife to gently re-cut any sides that have become misshapen or windows that have shrunk. Save these trimmed-off cookie pieces for making gravel later. Cool on the baking sheet until the cookies have crisped up a bit on the edges and are quite firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
6. Repeat the cutting and baking for the sides. Remove the 2 remaining sheets of the rolled cookie dough (not the re-rolled sheets) from the refrigerator and place on a work surface or cutting board. Remove the top pieces of parchment and set aside. Place the 2 side template pieces directly on the dough and use a sharp paring knife to trace and cut out the pieces. Remove the excess dough around the piece and set aside. Cut out any windows you'd like to have — you can cut out tombstone shapes and refrigerate the tombstones along with the door for baking at the end. Bake, trim, and cool as you did the first batch, rerolling the dough scraps between parchment and refrigerating during baking.
7. Repeat rolling and baking for the roof pieces. When the rolled-out dough scraps are chilled again, use them to repeat the template cutting process with the 2 roof pieces. Bake, trim, and cool as you did with the other batches.
8. Finally, roll the last bit of dough for a base and any additional decorations. Re-roll the last bits of scrap dough between parchment, then cut into 9-inch round — you can use a large dinner plate or a cake pan as a template. Bake this on its own; it may take as long as 20 minutes. Re-roll the last pieces of dough between parchment, then cut out shapes like ghosts, tombstones, or skeletons if desired. Bake these small pieces, along with the reserved door and tombstones (from the side windows), separately after the base is baked.

Make the Icing and Decorate the House Pieces

1. Make the icing. Place the meringue powder and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer and large bowl.) Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. While on low speed, gradually add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the sugar at a time and beat just until fully incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form again, 5 to 7 minutes. Tip: Be careful not to over-whip the icing, as it will become looser if you do. Feel free to add more powdered sugar if you need thicker icing, or a few tablespoons of water if it seem too thick. Remember that thick frosting is better for holding the house together, so your black icing should be the thickest.
2. Divide and color the icing. Transfer 1 cup of the icing to a piping bag or zip-top bag and leave white. Transfer 1 cup of icing to a small bowl and stir in a few drops of yellow food coloring if using. Transfer to a second bag. Finally, stir the black cocoa into the remaining frosting, then transfer to a third bag.
3. Decorate with the white and yellow icing. It is easiest to decorate the walls and roof of the house before assembling. You can add details after the house is assembled as well, but cobwebs, icing windows, roof tiles, ghosts, and tombstones should be added now with the white and yellow icing. Let these decorations sit until dry, at least 1 hour.

Build the House

1. Set up a work area. Have the cookie walls, bags of icing, and a serving platter or cake stand ready. You might also want to have paper towels or a clean dish towel handy.
2. Attach the front and one of the side pieces to the cookie base. Place the cookie round base on a serving platter or cake stand. On your round cookie base, pipe 1 thick line of the black icing the length of your front wall piece where you want the front of the house to be, making sure there's room in front of it to attach the door. Next, pipe a line of icing perpendicular to that line for the left wall of the house. You should now have an "L" of icing. Let it sit for 3 to 5 minutes. Pipe a line of icing on the bottom edge of the BACK side of the front wall, then pipe a line of icing on the right edge, also on the back side, where you'll attach the first side piece. Stand the front piece up in the line of icing on the cookie base, then stand the side wall piece up in the other line of frosting, tucking the side piece's edge behind the front piece. Hold these pieces in place for 10 minutes to dry slightly. Pipe an additional line of icing INSIDE the house along the base of the front, then pipe an additional line of icing on the inside between the front and side as reinforcement.
3. Add the back and right side of the house. Repeat piping the "L" line of icing on the cookie base where you want the right wall and back wall to be. Pipe icing on the INSIDE up the other side of the front of the house. Stand the right side piece in the bottom line of icing, attaching it to the front piece and tucking it behind the front piece slightly. Pipe 2 lines of icing on the BACK left and right sides of the back piece where you want it to attach to the side pieces. Stand the back piece in the bottom line of icing, then attach it to the side pieces. Hold these side pieces in place for 10 minutes. Pipe an additional line of icing INSIDE the house along the base of the back and between the back and right sides as reinforcement. Let dry for at least 30 minutes more before attaching the roof.
4. Attach the roof pieces. If you want to light your cookie house, now is the time to add a tea light or flameless candle inside the house. You won't be able to access it once the roof is on, so turn it on or make sure you can light it through a window. Pipe 3 lines of icing on the back of a roof piece — the 3 sides where it attaches to the house. Gently place the roof panel on the house, then hold in place for 10 minutes. Repeat with the second roof panel, making sure the two roof panels touch or are very close together at the top. Finally, pipe icing between the 2 roof pieces at the very top of the house to connect them together.
5. Let the house dry. Dry completely, at least 12 hours and up to 2 days. Store the bags of extra icing in an airtight container so they don't dry out.
6. Add additional decorations, if desired. Use more icing to secure tombstones to the base, sprinkle cookie gravel around, make a walkway with icing and sprinkles, or any other decorations you want your house to have.

Recipe Notes

• Make ahead: The cookie dough can be prepped up to 2 days ahead of time and kept in the fridge before baking.