Turn Ferrero Rocher Candies Into Spooky Halloween Candies
Ferrero Rochers are too pretty for Halloween – too dressy, too gold, too… good. Luckily, there are two easy ways to make them perfect for the last Halloween party or spooky night out with the kids.
Turn them into eyeballs
A plate of disembodied eyeballs is an exceptionally unsettling sweetness. Ferrero is already spherical, which is usually the hardest part of making eye-shaped desserts. All you need is some melted white chocolate and some chocolate chips to make the white color and pupil.
First, remove the gold foil from the chocolates. You can throw them away, but save the brown paper cup if you can. These will come in handy after you’ve finished decorating them to secure on a platter; they also give a slight impression of eyelids if you squint hard enough. Melt a couple ounces of white chocolate in a small bowl and make semi-sweet chunks. If you only have dark chocolate bars, melt a second small bowl of dark chocolate. I usually use the microwave to melt the chocolate – it’s quick and you only need to stir every 10 or 20 seconds while heating to make sure it doesn’t burn. There should be a pool deep enough that you can dip the candy in and cover most of the front.
Dip each Ferrero in white chocolate and tilt it to cover the front half of the ball. Place the eyeballs on a cooling rack, white side up, to dry. A wire stand will prevent your eyeballs from rolling and hitting each other, but if you don’t have one, use the brown paper cups you saved or place them on a clean kitchen towel to keep them from slipping. Place them in the refrigerator or freezer for five to ten minutes to harden the chocolate.
If you are using pieces of chocolate to make the pupils, remove the sharp tip with a paring knife so it lies flat. Remove the eyeballs from the refrigerator after five minutes, when the chocolate has hardened but is still soft, then press a piece into the center of the white chocolate. If you don’t have any chunks and melted some dark chocolate, you just dip them again, but not as deep. Hold each candy with the white chocolate side down and dip it into the dark chocolate as close to the center as possible. Dip less than you think – the pupil should be small, about a third the size of white. A little more and they’ll look like they’re on acid. Place them back on the cooling rack and refrigerate for another five minutes to set the chocolate. Then they are ready to serve.
Or make pretzel spiders
A plate of chocolate spider hazelnuts can be yours with a little help from mini pretzels. While pretzel sticks might work here, I find they make the candy look less like spiders and more like a static electricity diagram, so try to find a mini one. Chocolate coated pretzels are great if you want a continuous chocolate coating. There were none in my market, so I chose the original kind of pretzel.
Unwrap Ferrero Rocher chocolates and put them in the freezer. (Start with cold candy, this will help later on when you want your feet to stick.) Melt a couple ounces of milk or dark chocolate. This will be the “glue” for the pretzel legs, so you won’t need much. It is better to use low-quality pieces of chocolate or melted chocolate that has cooled to a thick consistency, as it is easier to work with. Break the mini pretzels into as many small arches as you need. They don’t have to be completely identical because, frankly, that’s hard to do and the variety makes them look like they’re on the move. If you’re thinking, “Eight legs are too many for this Ferrero,” just make six and call it a bug.
Take Ferrero out of the freezer. Take a pretzel leg and dip one end into the melted chocolate. Glue the leg to the Ferrero Rocher body. Cold candy and semi-cool chocolate “glue” should quickly grab on meeting. Repeat with all legs. Place the spiders in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes before serving to harden the chocolate. Put your spiders and eyeballs on a plate and start scaring people.