Halloween- Graveyard Mousses

Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year. I’ve always loved Halloween for as long as I can remember! My unwavering love for Halloween probably stems from the first time I saw ‘Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas’, and being utterly obsessed with ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘Hocus Pocus’ at the age of three (my mum tells me). My mum also used to put in on little Halloween parties for my sister and me when we were little- lots of lovely food, little decorations and Halloween themed treats- and I loved it.

And so since then I’ve always been a little bit on the black side, but I like the fun side of Halloween. Forget gory horror movies and terrifying costumes, it’s all about anything with a pumpkin on, cute ghost emojis and everything orange, black and white!!

I was sad when I found out I wouldn’t be in America for Halloween, I think spending Halloween in America would take me to a whole other level of Halloween love, but for now I’m sticking to a good ol’ British Halloween. So when thinking of what Halloween themed post I could do for my blog, my head immediately when to baking, because that’s what us do the British do best, right?!

I wanted to make something really fun, try baking something I’ve never done before and do something I could really be creative with. While on Pinterest I came across the cutest Chocolate ‘Graveyard’ desserts and knew straight away that’s what I wanted make.

I really enjoyed making them and they went down a treat! They’re very rich and chocolaty but the recipe is so easy it can be tweaked or changed to suit anyone. The theme for the mousses would be really fun to play around with, and I think my may have to do a Christmassy version!

Below is the recipes I used and some photos of what I made, hard to look at without getting serious chocolate cravings!

Shortbread Biscuit Recipe-

Ingredients

125g Butter

55g Golden Caster Sugar

180g Plain Flour

Heat the oven to 190C/Gas 5.
Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth
Sift and stir in the flour until the mixture comes together into a ball
Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the mixture until it is 1cm thick
Cut ‘gravestone/tombstone’ like shapes out of the dough* and place on greaseproof paper, on a baking tray
Refrigerate for 20 minutes
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden-brown and crisp around the edges
Allow to cool

*The more crudely done the better- cracks and uneven surfaces will add to the look of the ‘gravestones’

Decorations

Melt a small amount of dark cooking chocolate in a microwave, at 30 second intervals
Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping/sandwich bag, cut the tip to allow a small amount of chocolate out
Write desired words or phrase onto biscuits
Chill in fridge until ready to use

*I tried to get really creative with the biscuits and experimented with shapes and sizes, and even attempted ‘adorable’ skull and crossbones!

Chocolate Mousse Recipe-

Ingredients-

170g Dark Cooking Chocolate

7 free-Range Egg Whites

¼ tsp. Lemon Juice

40g Golden Caster Sugar

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of shimmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water
Once the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat, set it to one side and whisk the egg white and lemon juice in a clean bowl until they form soft peaks
Add the sugar to the egg whites and continue to whisk until firm peaks form. Don’t over whisk at this stage as it may result in the mixture separating into dry froth and runny liquid
Whisk one-third of the egg whites into the hot chocolate very quickly, to stop the mixture from becoming lumpy. Whisk until it is thick and well combined
Gentle fold in the remaining egg whites into the chocolate using a spatula, until no more white can be seen and the mixture is smooth and even
Spoon the mousse mixture into glasses of your choice and chill for a minimum of 2 hours, or until set