BoooOOookkKK!!! These Hocus Pocus Book Brownies are the perfect festive Halloween dessert! Don’t look them right in the eye, they might put a spell on you!
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I kind of just want to end the post right there. I mean that kind of says it all, right?
{photo credit to People’s Choice}
If you’re not familiar with the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus or the Sanderson sister’s iconic spell book, you need to watch it right this second. Not Halloween? Don’t care. Watch it anyway. In the meantime don’t light any black flame candles, trust all talking cats named Thackery, carry salt with you at all times, avoid mouth breathers named ICE, and NEVER open the spell book!
I’m a basic witch so naturally I’m obsessed with Hocus Pocus. So when I saw this recipe for these Hocus Pocus spell book brownies by Tieghan of Half Baked Harvest on Pinterest, my heart stopped. I definitely felt the icy breath of death upon my neck and I said to myself “….take me to the window….I wish to say goodbye…”. But I pulled myself together, headed to the kitchen (well first to Amazon to buy some of those gorgeous googly eyes
So whether it’s Halloween or not, (and right now it is!) let these book brownies put a spell on you and your guests during your Hocus Pocus viewing party(-ies, because let’s be real who can watch it only once?)
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, meaning I will get a small portion of any sales that result from readers clicking my links. This is of no cost to you but is greatly appreciated by me! Thank you! And thank you for trying these products that I love!
HOCUS POCUS BOOK BROWNIES
For these brownies and icing I used my chocolate chip brownie bites mix but left out the chocolate chips. They’re pretty rich with the chips and since these brownies are quite a bit larger than the bites I chose to skip them! I also didn’t want to risk any extra lumps since I needed the brownies to be nice and book-like! 🙂
We’re gonna preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 glass dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, sift together 1 C of white sugar, 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 C flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp baking powder.
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs with 1 tsp vanilla, then add to the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, melt 1/2 C butter then allow to cool, and then slowly add to the dry ingredients until just combined.
Pour into the glass dish and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Meanwhile, prep the icing by combining 3 Tbsp softened butter, 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 C confectioners sugar by using a hand mixer
Slowly add in 3 Tbsp of whole milk or heavy cream 1 Tbsp at a time.
Once the brownies are done, allow to fully cool on a cooling rack
Once completely cooled, top each brownie on the right side with a candy eyeball. Draw a circle around it with black cookie frosting. Draw a scribbly line down the left hand side of the brownie to look like the snake binding of the book, and two arcs in the right corners to look like the snake knots.
Enjoy! (If you dare!) 😛
- For the Brownies:
- 1 C white sugar
- ⅓ C unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ C flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ C butter, melted then cooled
- For the Icing:
- 3 Tbsp butter, softened
- 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 C confectioners sugar
- 3 Tbsp whole milk or heavy cream
- To Decorate:
- Candy eyeballs
- Black cookie frosting
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 glass dish with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs with the vanilla then add to the dry ingredients.
- Slowly add the butter (which has been melted and cooled), until just combined.
- Pour into the glass dish and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, prep the icing by combining the softened butter, cocoa powder, honey, vanilla and sugar by using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment on low for 30 seconds.
- Slowly add the milk 1 Tbsp at a time.
- Once the brownies are done, allow to fully cool, then place on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath to catch the excess (or foil if you want one less thing to clean!), then spoon the icing on top until fully coated.
- Once completely cooled, top each brownie on the right side with a candy eyeball. Draw a circle around it with black cookie frosting. Draw a scribbly line down the left hand side of the brownie to look like the snake binding of the book, and two arcs in the right corners to look like the snake knots.
- Enjoy! (If you dare!) 😛
**Recipe adapted from Half Baked Harvest and I am Baker
What do you think? Did this recipe make the cut for you or did it crumble? What would you do differently? I look forward to reading your opinions! 
