Need a fun, yummy activity to keep the kiddies entertained? Gingerbread houses aren't just for the cold-weather holidays. An edible haunted house takes a Halloween spin on this traditional fave. Here's how!

Sugar cookie recipe of your choice, plus all required ingredients (or pre-made roll)
Icing (make sure it's chilled)
Food coloring of your choice (this it to mix with the icing! For Halloween we'd suggest black, purple, orange, green, yellow, etc.)
Chocolate or vanilla wafer cookies
Skinny pretzel sticks
Graham crackers for decor
Chocolate frosting
Reese's pieces
Mini marshmallows
Flaked coconut
Oreo cookies
Vanilla finger cookies
Candy corn/candy pumpkins
Dum Dum lollipops
Black licorice
Ghost peeps
Chocolate Chips

Use your fave sugar cookie recipe to make the dough. Once it's all ready, roll it out so that it’s easy to cut. Cut the dough into eight squares, measuring them out to be the same size. You can cut 'em smaller or larger, depending on how big you want your house. Use a ruler to ensure that they'll fit together evenly. These will be the base, walls and roof of the house. While your cookies are baking, mix food coloring with icing. Divide icing into separate parts if you want a few different colors. Put icing back in the fridge so it's chilled.

Once the cookies are completely cooled and hardened (pop 'em in the fridge for a few if need be), you can start making your haunted mansion. Use two cookies on the bottom to form a base. Weld the two cookies together with icing. This will eventually be the house's yard.

On the base stack four pieces to form a square house frame that will look like a box with no top. Use icing to hold the walls and roof together. Make sure the sides stay together by using lots on the seams. Ice the frame to the base and the tops of the house, too.

For the roof, place two of the cookies on top of the box in an upside-down V shape. Connect the roof and the house, and the two roof pieces together with icing. There will be a small space between the box top and roof. You can fill this in with wafter cookies or graham crackers. You could also leave it open to put spooky spiderwebs or other decor in later.

Remember to fill in every li'l crack with icing so your house doesn’t come tumbling down. Put long pretzel rods where the cookies connect to make the house extra sturdy. After construction is finished, put the house in the fridge for a 15 minutes or so to make sure the icing is hardened.

Windows and doors are a necessity in any house, so craft up so spook-tacular add-ons. Use small, thin pretzel rods to create these must have features. Icing should be used to connect the decor. You could also use graham crackers, wafter cookies or leftover sugar cookies for 3-D windows and doors

Time to spookify the house! Frost the entire roof in chocolate frosting, then use orange and black Reese’s pieces and cover the entire roof. Alternate between orange and black pieces, to make them look like shingles. Make a chimney by using chocolate wafer cookies, stacking them in the shape of a four-sided long rectangle, and attaching 'em to the roof with some icing. Add wisps of smoke to the chimney by putting mini marshmallows on top.

A house isn’t haunted without a graveyard! Add green food coloring to vanilla icing and coconut flakes. Spread your green mixture around the house to create "grass." Cut Oreo cookies or vanilla finger cookies in half, to make the perfect  Use candy corn to create cobblestones for the walkway to your front door. You can line the side walk with Dum Dum lollipops like big lamp posts. You can also scatter candy pumpkins to give the yard a pumpkin patch feel. Create a picket fence from licorice or pretzel rods.

Time to make the house scary. You can use black licorice to make spider webs, adding them anywhere on the house. Warn visitors to "beware" by adding ghost peeps on the house and in the front yard. Scattering chocolate chips in the yard and attaching 'em to the house gives your creation an even darker edge. Use your imagination to add the finishing touches to this scrumptious, yet creepy treat!

10/22/2009 7:00:00 AM