Put a spell on your friends and family with these frightfully delicious Spell Book Shortbreads! Buttery chocolate shortbreads are decorated with melted milk chocolate and edible eyes to re-create the iconic spell book from the Hocus Pocus movie. Plus, you only need 6 ingredients and the shortbreads come together in less than an hour – let’s bake witches!
Quick recipe overview
- Flavour: buttery, chocolatey, sweet but not too sweet. Perfect flavours for any chocolate lover.
- Texture: these spell book shortbreads will melt in your mouth. They’re soft, crumbly, a little crunchy on the outside and can be dunked in a hot cup of tea without falling apart.
- Serves: this recipe will easily make 12 spell book shortbreads, just keep re-rolling the scraps of dough until it’s all used up.
Let’s talk Hocus Pocus!
Best Halloween movie ever? Big statement I know! This film holds many nostalgic memories of watching it with my sisters, or should I say SISTAAAAAHS! (said in Winnie Sanderson’s voice), when we were little. It really is an iconic movie with so many iconic scenes, especially the floating spell book which is what inspired this shortbread biscuit recipe.
Depending on your piping skills, you can go as simple or as extravagant with the spell book decoration. I opted for a more simple finish and just added a few details using melted milk chocolate. But feel free to get creative, pipe on the stitching details, or you could even use edible silver spray to give the spellbook a metallic finish.
How to make the spell book shortbreads
This recipe couldn’t be easier, you only need 6 ingredients and they come together in less than an hour. Here’s a quick overview of how to make them and a few top tips. Full detailed recipe is at the bottom of the page.
- Make the shortbread dough. First you’ll make the chocolate shortbread dough by combining butter, caster sugar, plain flour and cocoa powder. The dough is then chilled in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up.
- Cut into rectangular shapes. The shortbread dough is rolled out and sliced into small rectangles to create the book shapes. Each rectangle is roughly 6cm width x 8cm height. The shapes are transferred to a lined baking sheet and chilled again for 15 minutes.
- Bake for 10 minutes. The shortbreads are ready to come out of the oven when they feel set around the edges. They will continue to firm up in the middle as they cool down.
- Add the spell book decorations. Use melted milk chocolate to stick the edible eyes onto the shortbreads and pipe on the spell book decorations.
TOP TIP: chilling the shapes before baking solidifies the butter and stops them from spreading too much in the oven.
Hocus Pocus Spell Book Shortbreads
Ingredients
- 100 g Unsalted butter room temperature
- 50 g Caster sugar
- 120 g Plain flour
- 30 g Cocoa powder
- 100 g Milk chocolate
- Edible eyes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir the flour and cocoa powder together in a seperate bowl, then tip into the butter mixture and use your hands to work the ingredients into a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
- Roll the dough out to roughly 0.5cm thickness and slice into rectangle shapes that are roughly 6cm wide x 8cm tall. You’ll need to re-roll the dough scraps to make 12 rectangles in total.
- Transfer the shapes to a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving a little space between each. Place in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 180°C conventional.
- Bake the shortbreads for 10 minutes until set around the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray.
- Break the milk chocolate into a bowl and melt in the microwave in 30-second blasts, stirring between each, until smooth. Pour into a piping bag and snip of the tip to make a small hole.
- Use the chocolate to stick the edible eyes onto the shortbreads and then pipe on the spell book decorations. Get creative and try out different designs, the spookier the better for Halloween!