Graveyard Stout Pots de Creme

This time of year I am all about making and partaking in my fair share of pumpkin baked goods; However, I do not typically do anything specific to Halloween. Halloween always seems to sneak up on me and find me unprepared. This year though, my company is doing a haunted house competition which got me thinking about the holiday before it arrived.

Last week I spent my lunchtime cutting out bats and zombies. It was actually a lot of fun and it got me thinking about making a Halloween treat. I wanted it to be spooky and fit in with the theme of the haunted house so I found a recipe for Tombstone cookies to stick in chocolate pots de creme for a scary edible graveyard. Of course, I had to incorporate beer in there somewhere 😉

The Freedom Stout by Vindication Brewing (Boulder, CO) is a stout with notes of coffee and chocolate, perfect for a dessert 🙂 The stout replaced some of the milk in the pots de creme recipe. The tombstone cookies are a basic sugar cookie but the blended cocoa nibs add the stone-like texture and color to them! I thought this idea was super clever and the dough was great.

Graveyard Stout Pots de Creme

• Whip up the pots de creme and let chill
• Bake the tombstone cookies
• Place a layer of the Pots de Creme in desired dish (see Note)
• Crush oreo or chocolate wafers
• Spread cookie crumbs over the creme and top with a tombstone cookie

Note: This recipe was enough to fill an 8.5 x 6 pyrex dish about an inch high and three 4 oz jars. The large graveyard was simplest and I thought represented a graveyard the best. However, I also liked the small individual size graveyards. You can personalize each tombstone 🙂

Chocolate Stout Pots de Creme
~Recipe adapted from the Food Network

Ingredients
12 ounces high-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 c whole milk
1 c chocolate stout
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
9 large egg yolks
6 T plus 2 t granulated sugar
1/4 t salt

• Using a Cuisinart or blender, chop up the chocolate
• In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine all the liquids, egg yolks, sugar and salt
• After combining, stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture is thick. It should coat the back of a spoon
• Immediately pour the mixture over the chocolate in the Cuisinart
• Cover the top and blend until smooth
• Divide the chocolate into desired containers and place in the fridge to set (about 2 hours)

Tombstone Cookies
~Idea found on Sunset online and recipe is here

2 T cocoa (or cacao) nibs (see Note)
6 T butter, softened
1/2 c sugar, plus extra for sprinkling cookies
1 large egg
1/2 t vanilla
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
Melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

• In a Cuisinart or blender, whirl the cocoa nibs until the size of a grain of rice
• In a mixer, blend the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the vanilla and egg
• In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and then add to the wet ingredients
• Divide the dough in thirds and place covered in the fridge for about an hour (or longer)
• On a floured surface roll out the dough to about an 1/8 in. thick
• With a sharp knife draw tombstones
• Place cookies on a sheet with parchment paper
• Bake in the oven at 400 F until the cookies are golden brown on the edges, about 8 minutes
• Once the cookies are cool, write RIP with a thin tipped pastry bag (if you do not have a pastry bag, cut a tiny hole in a plastic sandwich bag

More To Love:

Chocolate Stout Cake

Stout Pie

Mexican Chocolate Beer Crepes