These saccharine skulls can kill your sweet tooth.
Brooklynites searching for a traditional way to celebrate Halloween can sculpt some sugar into a facsimile of a dead relative’s cranium next week at Huitzilli.
On Oct. 22, Mexican artist Inés Larios will impart her skullduggery skills at a workshop, teaching you how to make skulls and animal figures from homemade sugar dough at the Metropolitan Avenue handicrafts store in honor of the Mexican national holiday, “Día de los Muertos,” occurring on Nov. 1.
Sugar skulls are typically the centerpiece in Mexican memorial altars made for the “Day of the Dead,” which typically includes the deceased favorite things, foods, drinks, candles and flowers.
“The idea is you are giving the deceased a treat in the afterlife — something sweet in the form of a skeleton or a skull,” said Huitzilli’s Emily Cantrell. “They are edible, but most people don’t really eat them.”
Making sugar skulls is easier than it looks.
Start by mixing white granulated sugar with meringue powder, then add one teaspoon of water per cup of sugar used to the mixture and mashing it with your hands until the sugar is moistened.
If you can see your fingerprints when you squeeze the sugar clump and it feels like wet sand, it’s ready to be molded.
Then pack the sweet clump into your skull mold, scrape off the back so it is flat, and use a square of cardboard to invert the frightening result.
Finally, decorate the skulls with colored icings and add flourishes such as sequins and feathers.
But don’t try it at home — sign up for the class and make something creative with the whole family.
And when you’re done, snack on some authentic tamales to go at Grand Street’s JV Pizza and Taco or sit down for a full meal at Mesa Coyoacan.
But both places are BYOS — bring your own skulls.
Sugar skull workshop at Huitzilli [624 Metropolitan Ave. between Lorimer and Leonard streets in Williamsburg, (718) 701-3195], Oct. 22, 3-5 pm. For info, info@huitzilli.com.
