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I can’t tell you how excited I am to be finally sharing these Hocus Pocus Spellbook Brownies.
If you guys haven’t already noticed, I kind of have a thing for Halloween. Something about Halloween just makes me feel like a kid again, and I love that! In real life I’m a little too focused, a little too serious, and sometimes I just need to like, relax and have fun. Halloween (and really holidays) always take me back to my younger self.
Plus, who could not love a day devoted to dressing up and eating candy?
It’s genius.
Now that I’m older, and probably haven’t dressed up for Halloween since I was in sixth grade, I’ve found other ways to enjoy the holiday. One of my favorite things to do is to create “spooky” recipes…and apparently cocktails too. I have so much fun with it, like so much. It’s so dorky, but I just can’t help loving it.
A couple of weeks back, little Asher was over one night just chatting my ear off like she often does…
I was watching her for a bit and we decided to kill time by browsing through Pinterest and brainstorming Halloween recipe ideas. If there’s one thing I’ve passed down to Asher, it’s a love for holidays. In fact, the girl might just love them more than me. And Halloween…she LOVES it. She’ll start watching Halloween movies mid July. Her favorites are Harry Potter (obviously), all the Halloweentown movies (I used to love these as a kid…still do actually), Twitches, and Hocus Pocus.
I turned her onto Hocus Pocus last October, and she has been obsessed with it ever since. So when we came across a few Hocus Pocus inspired desserts, she declared that I HAD to recreate the Hocus Pocus Spellbook, but in dessert form.
So you have Asher to thank for theses delicious and extra cute brownies.
For real though, aren’t they adorable? I couldn’t believe how well they turned out for how easy they were to make. Typically I’ll find that creating holiday desserts are kind of a “pull your hair out” task, but these brownies are easy. Trust me, you can easily make them. then you and any kids you can round up will have a ton of fun decorating the “books”!
Start out by making a batch of my favorite one bowl brownies. Cut the brownies into nine squares, dip through chocolate, add a jumbo candy eye, and then decorate with some lines of frosting.
Simple as that.
A little tip? I like to freeze the brownies for a bit to make dipping them through the chocolate a faster and easier process. Working with a cold brownie allows the chocolate to harden faster.
Also? Instead of black food dye for the frosting, I like use activated charcoal so I can stay away from the store-bought food dyes (they freak me out).
And? I used jumbo candy eyes, which I bought via Amazon since I have not seen them in the grocery stores or at Target, at least not where I live. The smaller candy eyes will work, but I love the jumbo ones. They made the books look so similar to the one used in Hocus Pocus.
The best part? Even though these brownies are cute, they also taste delicious! What could not be good about a chocolate covered brownie?
It’s almost too good.
Thinking our weekend plans need to include a round of brownie baking and decorating…followed by a marathon Halloween movie night.
Sounds pretty amazing to me…who’s in?
On thing though, brownie making must come before movies. I mean all good movie marathon nights need a yummy snack…of course.
Hocus Pocus Spellbook Brownies
Servings: 9 brownies
Calories Per Serving: 563 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
- 16 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons activated charcoal or black food dye
- large candy eyes, for decorating
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking dish with parchment paper. 2. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs until combined. Add the cocoa powder, flour, and coffee and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, if using. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the brownies are just set. Let cool and then cut into 9 bars. Freeze for 15 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate and coconut oil. Microwave on high for 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted. Let cool 10 minutes. Dip each frozen brownie into the melted chocolate, using a fork to toss the brownie in the chocolate to coat. Remove and allow any excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining brownies. Freeze for 10 minutes. 4. In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, black dye (or charcoal), and 1 tablespoon water until combined, adding water if needed to thin. Add the frosting to a ziplock bag and snip a small portion of the corner off the bag. Remove the brownies from the freezer. Add a dot of frosting to each brownie and attach a candy eye. Decorate the spell books as desired. Let the frosting dry and then serve, or keep in and airtight container in a cool place for up to 4 days.
Notes
*Inspired by Delish.
ps. look really close at that photo up there…something is lurking in the distance…when witches are around a black cat is always sure to follow.
Wow!!!! This was a big hit! Yes Made for our movie night & yes we watched Hocus Pocus, a favorite of ours. Kids Loved This!!! Instead of individual brownies , made one big one LOL! I found chocolate foil covered eye balls, once brownie was done and cooled i scooped out eye socket & put one in, then covered brownie with chocolate around eye, great tip on the freezer thing. And because i didnt’ coat each individual square & made one big one instead i had left over melted chocolate. so added black food coloring to this and piped decoration/ designs with this, added some sprinkles, let set in fridge day before & then we ate the Boo-oook! on movie night. LOL!!!
Great recipe, will make again.
Thank you!!!
That sounds so amazing Karen! Love that you made one big brownie! Thank you!
Love these!! Is it possible to use melted chocolate chips to use to dip the brownies in?
Yes, melted chocolate chips will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! 🙂
Absolutely awesome!! Love these!! So creative and fun and amazing photography as usual!! You’re such an inspiration to me Tieghan! I love every post and look forward to getting them every day!!…
This is so sweet! Thank you, I am so glad you enjoy my blog! ?
I can’t wait to try this recipe! It would be super helpful if the ingredients were measured in grams in addition to the cups measurements… it’s way easier and requires less clean up!
Hey Lou!
Here in the US we use all measurements in cups.. Sorry about that!
These are SO cute, Tieghan! Hocus Pocus is the best Halloween movie!
Thank you Kelly!
These are adorable! Thank you little Miss Asher. I bet you guys had a great time creating the recipe and making them together. So fun!
Yes! It was so much fun. Thank you Mary Ann!
yes they are adorable, nice tip too about freezing them for easier decoration, great idea, and thank you for this!
Thank Sabrina! I hope these turn out great for you!
Oh my goodness Tieghan these are AMAZING!!! Hocus Pocus is probably my favorite Halloween movie, so you can just imagine how much I love these! Not only do they look fabulous, but they sound delicious too! 🙂 Awesome work!!
Yes, Hocus Pocus is one of the bests! I hope you love these Alia! Thank you!
Cuteness overload!! These just blew my mind! Haven’t seen something this adorable for a very log time. They are too gorgeous to eat.. but not really, I can imaine I would eat the whole batch in one sitting.
Looking forward to more Halloween recipes!
Have a wonderful day,
best wishes,
||Jar||
Haha it is hard not to eat them all! Thank you, I hope you love these!
Hey Tieghan,
These loook really lovely and I like the idea of making brownie spell books for a Halloween movie marathon. Haha I also still enjoy those movies and agree they bring out the spirit of Halloween (with the help of some baked goods ?). I’m looking forward to more Halloween recipes! Ps) I like your new email newsletter format. I think it looks really nice. ☺️??
Thank you Krisin! So glad you like these brownies ? Oh, and so glad you like the new format!!
These are too cute! I love them!
Thank you Amy!
Honestly I think I would just use dark chocolate for the drizzle rather than frosting. Plus that way, if you’re wary of such things, you avoid food dyes.
That sounds great too! Hope you love these Kacie!
Omg, Girl! You totally just made my day with these!!!
Thank you Tori!
Eeeeeeek I love these. One of my all time favorite Halloween Classics. Going to have to make these this week I think. ??
Yay! I hope these turn out awesome and you love them! Thank you Morgan!
If you post a picture don’t forget to tag me so I can see it! ?
Omg these are so much fun! Love it!
Thank you Alex!