Chocolate Witches Hats Food

CHOCOLATE WITCHES' HATS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cloves, salt, and baking soda.
• Place butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and molasses; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic; refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft at any time, freeze until firm.) Cut dough into 12 circles using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter; space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Holding a sugar cone upright in your hand, fill with Kit Kat bar pieces. Using a small brush, paint a thick layer of melted chocolate around the rim of the cone. Hold 1 cookie, bottom side up, over the cone, centering it, and press to adhere to the cone. Turn upright and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining cookies and cones. Chill for 10 minutes to set. Remove from refrigerator and paint entire surface of hats (cones and cookies) with chocolate. Chill until set, about 20 minutes, then tie candy belts around the base of each hat.

CRISPY TREAT WITCH'S HAT

Steps:

• Melt 9 tablespoons of the butter in a large pot over low heat. Add 3 packages marshmallows and heat, stirring, until completely melted. Add the chocolate-flavored rice cereal and stir until well coated. The mixture will look very white because of the melted marshmallow; that's okay because the color will fade. You can add a dash of cocoa powder to deepen the color if you'd like.
• For the hat base: Grease a large piece of parchment with butter. Oil your hands so the cereal doesn't stick, then remove about a quarter of the cereal mixture. Press and mold the mixture on the greased parchment to create a 10-inch flat circle.
• For the hat: Build the remaining cereal mixture into a cone with a 6-inch-wide base. Set the cone on top of the hat base. Shape bends and divots into the cone to make a realistic looking hat.
• Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the remaining package of marshmallows and heat, stirring, until melted. Stir in the plain rice cereal until well coated. Grease a small bowl with butter and transfer 1/2 cup of the cereal mixture to the bowl. Set aside.
• For the hatband: Add a few drops of green gel food coloring to the rest of the cereal mixture in the saucepan and mix well until the color is even. Using the green batch, create a 3-inch-wide band or strip to wrap around the entire base of the cone.
• For the buckle: Dust the reserved batch of cereal mixture with edible gold powder and shape into a square buckle. Press the buckle onto the base of the hatband. If the mixture doesn't hold its shape, let it set for 10 minutes to stiffen.

WITCHES' HATS

Steps:

• Place a fudge stripe cookie with bottom side up onto a work surface. Smear a small dab (about 1/8 teaspoon) of honey onto the bottom of a chocolate kiss, and secure the candy piece to the center of the cookie, covering the hole. Use decorating gel to pipe a small bow onto the cookie at the base of the candy piece. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

WITCH'S CRISPY HAT

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, combine marshmallows and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted and blended. Remove from the heat; stir in cereal. Press 4 cups into a greased 9-in. round pan and remaining mixture into a greased 15x10x1-in. pan; cool. , In a large saucepan, combine confectioners' sugar and cream. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla. Cool until mixture is thickened, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. , In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in chocolate mixture until blended. Cover and refrigerate up to 30 minutes., To assemble hat, cut six circles out of cereal mixture in the 15x1-in. pan using 5-1/2-in., 5-in., 4-1/2-in., 4-in., 3-in. and 2-in. round cookie cutters (save remaining mixture for another use). Remove cereal mixture from 9-in. pan and place onto a serving platter. Top with remaining circles, stacking from large to small. Top with sugar cone. Spread with frosting. , Unwrap and microwave apple candies on high for 10-20 seconds or until softened. Roll out to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a 3-in. moon- and a 1-1/2-in. star-shaped cookie cutter. Repeat with grape candies. Press moons and stars onto hat. Refrigerate leftovers.,

MOUSSE-FILLED WITCHES' HATS

Steps:

• For mousse, in a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup cream to a boil; remove from the heat. Stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Transfer to a bowl; cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
• In a small mixing bowl, beat the remaining cream until stiff peaks form; fold into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, melt semisweet chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip pointed tips of ice cream cones a third of the way into melted chocolate; roll in sprinkles.
• Refrigerate until set.
• Just before serving, spoon mousse into cones. Top each with a chocolate wafer. Invert onto a serving platter.

WITCH HATS

Steps:

• Attach 1 Kiss to chocolate bottom of each cookie, using decorating icing.
• Pipe decorating icing around base of chocolate.