These Frankenstein Pistachio Blondies are a fun, crowd-pleasing Halloween dessert! Kids and adults alike will love these cute, edible Frankenstein faces!
In the past I’ve been a little lukewarm about Halloween, but this year I’m SO into it. I think it’s because my 3-year old is really excited about it, and his enthusiasm is contagious. He likes to playact trick-or-treating, he’s already decorated a scary pumpkin that he named “Aaaaah!”, and he has had his costume idea on lock for the last year. (He’s going to be No Noggin, a headless scarecrow from a straight-to-DVD Curious George Halloween movie. No one is going to know who that poor boy is. And if you’re wondering how I’m going to pull off this costume, well, so am I.)
Basically, the LaBaus are not only on the Halloween train, we’re sitting up by the conductor making choo-choo hand motions. We are ready.
It didn’t take me long to figure out which nuts I wanted to use for my Halloween cookies this year. Pistachios are practically the official nut of Halloween—I mean, they’re already green! The color of oozing slime and witches’ skin and Frankenstein’s monster! How could they not already be in every Halloween dessert ever?
So, using green pistachios as my inspiration, I created these pistachio blondies, decorated to look like Frankenstein faces. (Well, technically they’re his monster’s face, but we’re not going to go all pedantic English major here, are we? I say that with fondness, as a former English major myself. Everyone just calls him Frankenstein. Let’s deal with it and move on.)
These blondies are, in a word, Franken-dorable. (Franken-stunning? Too much?) I love how each one has a unique expression, and little differences in the eyebrows, mouths, and scars give them each their own personality. They’re decorated with candy eyes, candy-coated almond noses, mini Rolo neck bolts, and chocolate jimmies for hair. A few stripes of red and brown candy coating for the mouth and scars, and you’re done! (If you like these blondies, don’t forget to check out my Frankenstein Cupcakes!)
To show just how easy it is to make these, I made a quick little photo tutorial for ya:
I’ve been talking a lot about the decorations, but that’s doing a disservice to the blondies themselves, because these are DELICIOUS. If you’re at all a fan of pistachios, these are going to be your new favorite dessert! They’re fudgy and moist, with a big pistachio flavor that comes from homemade pistachio butter being stirred right into the batter. They’re also packed with toasted pistachios and chocolate chunks, because it’s not a decent bar cookie without chocolate being involved somehow, right?
Of course the pistachio blondies are also great on their own, sans Frankenstein decorations, and if for some reason you’re a weirdo who doesn’t like pistachios, you can use these same techniques on just about any brownie or bar cookie. Frankenstein faces for all! Now, can someone tell me how to make a No Noggin costume? Because I would pay you many, many pistachio blondies for that information.
☠ More Halloween Dessert Recipes
- Witch Finger Cookies
- Brain Cupcakes
- Zombie Brain Brownie Bites
- Red Velvet Hot Chocolate
- Stamped Halloween Cupcakes
- Red Velvet Marshmallow Spiderweb Cake
Rosemary Almond Blondies
Meringue-Topped Blondies
Frankenstein Pistachio Blondies
Ingredients
For the Pistachio Blondies:
- 14 oz pistachios, (about 3 cups)
- 2-3 tsp vegetable oil
- 8 oz unsalted butter, melted
- 4.66 oz granulated sugar, (2/3 cup)
- 10 oz brown sugar, (1 1/3 cup)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp almond extract
- 9 oz all-purpose flour, (2 cups)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, (1 cup—chunks or chips)
For the Decorations:
- 24 oz green candy coating melts, I used vibrant green
- 12 almonds, whole
- 24 large candy eyes
- 24 mini Rolos
- 2 oz red candy coating melts
- 2 oz brown candy coating melts
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup chocolate jimmies
Instructions
To Make the Pistachio Blondies:
- Preheat the oven to 350. Scatter 2 cups of pistachios on a baking sheet, reserving the remaining cup for later use. Toast the pistachios for 5 minutes, until fragrant and warm. Transfer the warm nuts to a large food processor and add 2 tsp oil. Process until the nuts turn into nut butter, stopping the processor occasionally to scrape down the bottom and sides. Add another spoonful of oil if necessary to help the butter become smoother and thin out. Let the pistachio butter cool to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and both sugars. Add the eggs and yolks, and whisk until satiny smooth. Add the pistachio butter and extracts, and mix those in as well. Next, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir with a spatula until all streaks of flour are gone. Finally, add the remaining 1 cup of pistachios and the chocolate chunks, and stir them into the batter.
- Line a 9×13 pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth it into an even layer. Bake the blondies at 350 F for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a moist crumb or two attached. Let the blondies cool completely before cutting them.
To Decorate:
- Cut the blondie slab into three columns, then cut each column into four pieces, to give you 12 rectangular blondies. Trim two corners off the bottom of each blondie, to create the chins of your Frankensteins. Place the blondies on a cookie sheet and freeze them for about 30 minutes, until they are firm.
- While you wait for the blondies to chill, place the candy melts in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. When the candy coating is smooth and fluid, use a fork to dip the whole almonds in the coating, to create the Frankenstein noses. Set the candy-coating almonds on a sheet of waxed paper to dry.
- Use a fork or dipping tools to dip a blondie in the candy coating. Let the excess drip off the bottom, then gently scrape the bottom against the lip of the bowl to remove any extra coating. Set the dipped blondie on a waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Working quickly, press two candy eyes and an almond nose in the center of the blondie. Add two mini Rolos to the side of the chin for the bolts. Repeat with the remaining blondies, until you have 12 Frankenstein faces.
- Melt the red and brown candy coating in two separate small bowls. Transfer them to two paper cones, disposable piping bags, or even plastic sandwich bags with a small hole snipped in the corner. Give each Frankenstein a red mouth, a brown scar on his face, and brown eyebrows. Make sure the coating is completely set before proceeding—you can refrigerate them briefly to speed this process if you’d like.
- Finally, it’s time to give them hair! Put the chocolate sprinkles in a bowl. Use a clean paintbrush to brush corn syrup on the top and around the sides of the Frankensteins, then push them head-down into the bowl of sprinkles, so the sprinkles adhere to the corn syrup. Store Frankenstein Pistachio Blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
These look amazing! I love the cartoon-y take on the Frankenstein monster.
Thank you!
So creative! These are great treats both for adults and kids 🙂
Thanks Medeja! The kids and adults in my house seemed to like them equally. 🙂
Amazing! I love how you incorporated real pistachios into this. It’s the perfect combination of bright/colorful and actual nutty goodness. Diamond Nuts rock!
Also, Asher is really good at naming things.
Haha, I am actually shocked he didn’t name it “pumpkiny.” That’s basically the only naming convention he knows. “Sharky.” “Moosey.” “Spatula-y.” You get the idea. He’s adorable, but a creative namer he is not.
Your writing just never gets old for me! NEVER! You are hilarious. We were just watching the No Noggin movie over the weekend (Hello Netflix, could you PLEASE give some more kid movie offerings in the Halloween genre?!). I love that the Man in the Yellow Hat dressed as a banana. And that GEORGE dressed as the man in the yellow hat! I’M LAUGHING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT. But I digress. In true SugarHero fashion, you’ve mananged to out-did yourself again on these. So fun and festive and they sound delicious. Well done, my friend!
That Curious George, always good for a laugh. What’s your little guy going to be?? And thank you for the sweet comment, Meggan!
Elizabeth!!! I used to feel the same way about Halloween .. but then my kids came along and changed my mind too! 🙂 ok these frankenstein-pistachio-blondies are the cutest things I’ve ever seen!!! and we LOVE pistachios!!!! Esp the shelled pistachios from Diamond. . love them!
I know, right? I used to always shell my own for color and $$ reasons, and finally decided that life is too short for shelling pounds of pistachios. 🙂 Thanks Alice!
Omigosh! Those are just the cutest Frankensteins ever and they truly are “Franken-dorable.” That should be an actual word! hahaha 😉
Haha, let’s write to the OED and make it official. 🙂 Thanks Abeer!
Wow!! these blondies are so cool!! I love the Franken faces… Never had pistachio blondies before I will definitely try out this one!
BTW:I love the new site design!! It looks beautiful!
Thanks Tiffany! It felt so good to get a blog facelift. 🙂
These are so cute! I can’t wait til my son is old enough to appreciate all things Halloween, because i will most certainly make these. We have a couple really spooky decorations out and he thinks they’re the funniest things ever. I’m trying to figure out at what age and why kids get scared of stuff! haha
Haha, show him a creepy clown and see if he still thinks it’s funny! Just my phobia? Okay, then. 🙂
I have been searching for a pistachio blondie recipe to replicate some delicious ones I had on vacation. Most of the recipes I found had white chocolate which I didn’t want (since the vacation ones didn’t have that). These were exactly what I was searching for! I stopped after making just the blondies and didn’t make them into Frankenstein, but they are delicious and moist just as blondies.
Will definitely be making them again!