Haunted Candy Houses

My kids are home all week right now for Fall Break.  I've been a teeny bit worried about what I'm going to do for them!  What is something special I can plan that doesn't involve Mom standing up for very long?  Hmmm, that pretty much narrows the field down to NOTHING.

We are hanging out at home a lot.  In jammies!  I've tried a couple of very quick outings, and I even used the electric scooters that are provided at the front of the store (dignity, I tell ya) and I still come home and have to lie down and recover for hours.  Grrrrrr.  So the best I have been able to come up with was to decorate some "haunted houses."  Like gingerbread, only for Halloween.  I bought a slew of fall colored candy, some graham crackers, invited our 2nd cousin over to play, and we were set.

Yah I don't think we had enough candy there...

Mitchell working on construction

Our peaked roofs kept collapsing, so Tucker gave up
and went Adobe-style.

Cooper gave up on EVERYTHING
and just glued candy to his plate!

 The trick is to use ROYAL ICING and not regular frosting.  It dries hard and fast, but you still have to be a bit patient, as evidenced by our multiple collapses.  I employed my steady hand and more lengthy patience to produce this masterpiece...

Apparently I needed the big skull in there for added effect.
But don't you love my spooky tree!?!?
It's a piece of black licorice that I snipped up with scissors,
with some candy corns helping brace it at the bottom.

The choices we had for decorating:
candy corn
fall-colored M&M's
reese's pieces
black licorice
Good & Plenty


ROYAL ICING
3 egg whites (room temp)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
4 cups powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients at high speed for 12 minutes.  A stand mixer is handy for this.  Use immediately after preparing, and keep covered with a damp towel or the frosting will begin to set up.  I put mine in ziplock bags and snip the corner off, but remember to get the FREEZER variety.  The other bags are too weak and seem to bust open when you are squeezing them.