Benton’s Chocolate Haunted House Cookie Kit

Decorating gingerbread houses is a classic Christmas activity, but cookie houses trimmed with candy and icing are not just for Christmas anymore. With a few simple tweaks, a gingerbread house can be turned into a haunted house for Halloween. Not only does Aldi sell gingerbread house kits for the winter holidays, but for the past several years, Aldi has sold the equivalent of a Halloween gingerbread house kit as well.

Benton’s Chocolate Haunted House Cookie Kit cost $7.89 for a 39.2-oz. kit at the time of publication.

This is an Aldi Find (Special Buy), which means it’s only in stores for a short time. Once it sells out, it’s gone until next year.

This kit is a product of Canada.

It comes with pre-baked chocolate cookie pieces instead of traditional gingerbread-flavored cookies. It also includes pre-made icing in black and orange, along with candy treats for decorating. The candy treats include black bats; white bones; multi-colored spheres; and red, orange, and yellow gumdrops.

Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)

This is not a health food, so the ingredients are a laundry list of different components, but my family doesn’t usually eat these house kits. I often find these to not be all that appetizing because the cookie pieces are so hard, so we usually nibble the candy pieces and mostly treat these houses as decorations and not as dessert.

If you’re avoiding allergens, this contains wheat. It may contain soybean, egg, and milk.

Directions. (Click to enlarge.)

The directions for assembly are printed with illustrations on the back of the box. Your haunted house cookie can be assembled as follows:

1. Icing Bag Preparation: Knead the icing pouch for one minute to a soft, smooth consistency.
2. Icing Bag: Remove cap from icing and cut a small hole on top of the tip.
3. Arrange House Pieces for Assembly: Lay out house pieces on a flat surface. Pipe a line of icing over the embossed markings on the chocolate cookie base.
4. Apply Icing: On the back (rough side) of the front and back panels, pipe strips of icing.
5. Construction: Place the back panel of the house onto the base, and then press a side wall up against the strip of icing on the back panel. Hold in place for one minute while icing sets. Repeat the process with the second side wall and front panel, holding to set between each piece. Adjust to walls to create a good rectangle.
6. Apply Icing to House Peaks: Pipe a thick line of icing along the edges of the front and back panels.
7. Add roof: Attach roof panels to house peaks and hold in place for one minute. Line a strip of icing down the middle of the roof to secure the two together. Hold in place for another minute while icing sets. Wait 30 minutes prior to decorating your house.

I helped my 12-year-old some with constructing the house. It was a bit challenging to make the walls and roof stay in place, but the key is to use plenty of icing. Don’t skimp. Also, be sure to hold the walls in place for a minute after sticking them together to give the icing time to set, and let the entire house sit for 30 minutes or so to set before you decorate it.

I let my kids go to town decorating this, so it doesn’t look exactly like the picture on the box, but the kids sure had fun. There were plenty of small candies to decorate the house, the skeleton and pumpkin cookies, and the cookie base that the house sits on. We also had more than enough icing for assembling the house, adding trim, and attaching decorations, with a good amount of icing left over.

For less than $8, this was a fun project for a fall evening, and it makes a neat display on the counter through the Halloween season.

The Verdict:

Benton’s Chocolate Haunted House Cookie Kit is Aldi’s take on a Halloween version of a gingerbread house. It includes lots of fun candy pieces to decorate with. If you want some at-home entertainment on a fall day, this is just the thing.