Coffin cookies

Cut the room-temperature butter into cubes. It should be so soft that your finger can press a hollow into it without resistance. Cold butter takes up no air, and without air the dough turns crumbly instead of short.

Add the granulated sugar, salt and vanilla and beat everything with the hand mixer for two to three minutes, until the mixture has become noticeably lighter.

Pour the whisked whole egg in a thin stream while the mixer is running. Tipping it all in at once is the most common mistake: the egg and butter separate, and the mixture no longer turns smooth.

Add the White flour and mix only until no dry flour is visible. The less you work it, the shorter the dough becomes.

Bring the crumbly mixture together briefly with your hands, pressing rather than kneading. Weigh out 215 g for the light dough. Into the rest (around 205 g) you work in the cocoa until the colour is even.

Press both doughs into flat slabs, wrap them in cling film and put them in the fridge for about an hour. A flat slab chills all the way through and can then be rolled out without any effort.

Preheat the oven to 190 °C fan. Roll out the dough on a little flour to a thickness of 3 mm. With rolling guides it comes out the same thickness everywhere, and the walls later fit neatly against each other.

Cut out the parts with the Cookie cutter 3D coffin. The cutter has four shapes, and you need each one twice per coffin: twice the coffin shape for the base and lid, plus two long walls, two angled walls and the head and foot ends. That makes eight parts per coffin.

Lay the parts with a little space between them on a tray with baking paper.

Bake the parts for 9 minutes at 190 °C fan, until the edges take on just a very slight colour. Let them cool completely on the tray. While warm they are still soft and break when being assembled.

For sticking the parts together you use tempered couverture, white for the light coffins, dark for the dark ones. If you prefer not to temper, use chocolate that is simply melted in the microwave, or Deco melts or Cake icing. Fill the chocolate into a small Piping bag.

Pipe a fine line of chocolate onto the edges of the walls. Important: the chocolate always goes on the upper side of the biscuit, that is the side that faced up during baking. This side later faces inwards, the smooth underside stays visible on the outside.

Stand the walls one after another on the edge of the base and press them in place briefly.

Finally, pipe a line of chocolate into all the joints on the inside. This makes the coffin stable and tight for the filling. Let the chocolate set before you carry on.

For the dark coffins, bring the full cream and butter to the boil, pour both over the Dark couverture, let it stand briefly and then stir to a smooth, glossy mass. You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe for Carac. Let the Ganache firm up a little so that it can be piped.

First pipe the Caramel cream into the dark coffins and smooth it out. The Ganache goes on top, up to just below the rim.

Mix the chopped walnuts into the Caramel cream, fill the light coffins with it and smooth the surface. Finally, sprinkle the Oreo crumbs over the top, it looks like fresh soil.

Now it gets spooky. With white and dark chocolate or Deco melts in a Piping bag, you paint crosses, chains, spider webs, skulls or an R.I.P. freehand onto the lids, for the brave. It is quicker with ready-made Sugar decoration, which you stick on with a dab of chocolate, or with Sprinkles. Let your imagination run wild!

Place the lids onto the coffins with a dab of chocolate, either fully closed or slightly offset so that the filling peeks out.