I just finished a spot on Fox26 in Houston this morning.  The segment was on Halloween fun ideas and I swear it took me over two weeks to worry about what I was going to talk about and only 2 to make it all come together!  It’s always like that for me…some ungodly gift of last-minuteness that the universe seemed fit to endow me with.  (LOL…I said endow)

I googled every possible term for a cool thing to do.  But then it hit me!  What would I want to do if I was really wanting to do something fun, creative and good.  It helped if it was good.  Sometimes the creative and fun doesn’t always come out as good.  Lord knows I’ve tried to make them good but they don’t always come out that way!

But today was different.  I did simple food.  But it was fun, creative AND good.  I found a couple of good ideas that I want to share with you here.  They were super simple.  And they are super super cute!  So I hope you enjoy them.  I wore a mad scientist outfit, which I will probably regret forever wearing in public because i looked like a big gay troll doll.  But it’s cool…anything in the name of entertainment right?!  So here were my treats… The first one is these totally adorable graveyard pots…super super super cute!!!

Dark Chocolate Graveyard Pots de Crème

Ingredients

14 ounces (about 3 cups) semisweet or bitter-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped

2 large eggs, plus 2 yolks

2 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/3 cup coffee-flavored liqueur

1/2 cup chocolate wafer crumbs

Preparation

1. In a food processor or blender, whirl chocolate until finely chopped. Pour into a bowl. Put eggs and yolks in the processor or blender.

2. In a 4-cup glass measure, heat whipping cream in a microwave oven (see Notes) at full power (100%) until cream boils, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. With processor or blender on high speed, add boiling cream to egg. Check temperature of mixture with an instant-read thermometer; if below 160°, pour mixture back into glass measure and reheat in microwave oven at full power until it reaches 160°, stirring and checking at 15-second intervals.

4. Combine hot cream mixture, chopped chocolate, and liqueur in blender or processor (or whisk the ingredients together in a large bowl); whirl until smooth, about 1 minute.

5. Pour chocolate mixture into 8 ramekins or glasses (1/2-cup size). Chill until softly set, 30 to 45 minutes. If making ahead, cover and chill up to 1 day. For creamiest texture, let desserts stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before eating.

6. Spoon 1 tbsp. wafer crumbs onto each pot de crème. Insert a Tombstone Cookie into each serving.

Tombstone Cookies

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cocoa

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling cookies

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and 1/2-cup sugar until creamy; beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa; gradually add to butter mixture, blending thoroughly, to form a soft dough. Divide dough into thirds, cover each portion tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour), or up to 3 days.

4. On a floured board, roll out dough, a portion at a time, to a thickness of 1/8 in. (keep dough refrigerated when not in use). With a sharp knife, cut out free-form tombstone shapes (about 1 1/2 by 3 in.; cut bottom edges at an angle to make them easier to poke into the pots de crème), and place slightly apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle generously with sugar.

5. Bake cookies until edges are lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool completely before handling.

6. Using a pastry bag with a very fine tip, pipe the letters “RIP” in chocolate on at least 8 of the cookies. Stick these cookies into the Dark Chocolate Graveyard Pots de Crème and serve the rest of the cookies alongside.

Recipe courtesy of myrecipes.com