Graveyard Brownies!!!

‘Tis the season for all things spooky.  And, in an effort to get our fall on, we decided to make graveyard brownies.  This was a new adventure for my kids and me.  My family loves brownies.  It is our favorite treat.  I have a favorite recipe that I use all the time, Quick and Easy Brownies from AllRecipes.com. We thought that we’d dress them up for the holiday season.  We made Graveyard Brownies!!!

 

I had my preschooler and kindergartner scrape the frosting off of the sandwich cookies:

My fourth grader helped by mixing the ingredients for the brownies:

This batter is THICK, you will need to scoop it into prepared cupcake tins:

After the batter was in the oven, my second grader made the ‘dirt’ topping:

I also prepared the frosting while the brownies were baking.

When the brownies were done, I took them out and let them cool in their pans for a few minutes.

Then, I cut off the tops off the brownies and set them aside to be used later and inverted the brownies onto a pan for frosting.

Next, I cut the tops into tombstone shapes.  Be creative with this part, the tombstones can be oddly shaped mimicking a dilapidated cemetery.  I enjoyed cutting the tombstones into different shapes.  My kids and husband enjoyed eating the leftover parts.

Next, frost the top of one brownie and the front of one tombstone.  Place the tombstone on the brownie.  If you wait too long, the frosting will set on the brownie and you won’t be able to place the tombstone without adding more frosting:

After, the tombstones were placed, I piped a narrow line around the top of the brownie to keep the ‘dirt’ in place.

I let my fourth grader help me sprinkle the dirt on top of the brownies.  The buttercream frosting won’t stick to the ‘dirt’, so make sure to avoid any surface you want to decorate with the white buttercream frosting.

Pipe the white buttercream frosting, starting with the tombstone message and working out.  I found it easier to pipe on the tombstones that were leaning slightly backward as opposed to the ones that were straight up and down.

We were done, and the kids said they were “Awesome!”  My second grader wanted to put a comment on this post, “These were the best brownies, ever.”  This was a fun, seasonal activity for my family.  These brownies should look good next to the spooky decorations at a halloween party.