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
) and got to baking!
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?)
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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 8x8 glass dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, sift together 1 C of white sugar, ⅓ C unsweetened cocoa powder, ½ C flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon baking powder.
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs with 1 teaspoon vanilla, then add to the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, melt ½ 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 tablespoon softened butter, 3 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 C confectioners sugar by using a hand mixer
or a stand mixer
with a whisk attachment
on low for 30 seconds.
Slowly add in 3 tablespoon of whole milk or heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time.
Once the brownies are done, allow to fully cool 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!) 😛
Print
Hocus Pocus Book Brownies
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 9 brownies 1x
- Category: Dessert, Holiday
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
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!
Ingredients
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
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 glass dish with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together all dry brownie ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs with 1 teaspoon vanilla then add to the dry ingredients.
- Slowly add ½ C 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 3 tablespoon softened butter, 2 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 C confectioners sugar by using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment on low for 30 seconds.
- Slowly add 3 tablespoon of milk 1 tablespoon 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!) 😛
Notes
See post notes for image on how to decorate your books!
Keywords: Hocus Pocus spell book, Halloween brownies, easy festive dessert, kid-friendly baking
**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? Leave a comment below! 🙂
Rachel says
Note: I am rating on the decoration inspiration ONLY! I did not make the brownie recipe, just used a box mix.
My sister and I carve pumpkins and watch "Hocus Pocus" together the week before Halloween every year. I saw these and knew I wanted them for our party! I have trouble with my hands and can't do a lot of piping, so I opted to decorate the whole 9x13 pan as one. I pressed a full-size white chocolate peanut butter cup into the hot brownies for the eye. When everything had cooled, I piped the decorations in chocolate, including the eyelid and lashes. It's so cute that I don't want to cut into Book!
★★★★★
Caitlin says
Hey Rachel—I LOVE this tradition and your creativity to adapt the recipe! I’ll have to try the giant book idea that sounds so fun! Please tag me if you post it on social media, I’d love to see your version! Enjoy Hocus Pocus season———AMUCK AMUCK AMUCK!!