Sugar Skulls are something I have always wanted to make. I seemed to never get around to it with the rush of Halloween but this year, since I didn’t have to take any kids trick or treating, I decided I would take Halloween to decorate and make sugar skulls. They are super easy to make and they don’t cost a lot at all, either. You pretty much only need three main ingredients and the rest is history!
What Do Sugar Skulls Mean
Sugar Skulls are part of the Mexican/Latino holiday of Dia de los Muertos or “The Day of The Dead”. The holiday is designed to honor relatives that have passed on. The belief is that at midnight on October 31, passed children can come down ad reunite with their families and on November 2, the adults come down to be with their families for celebration. Making of the sugar skull is a way to honor and offer your passed relatives a treat for the celebration of their yearly spiritual return.
The skulls, although made from sugar and icing, (and sometimes sequins and other things that are not food) are not meant to be eaten by the living but to be kept until the next year. If you keep your skulls dry, they will keep for an entire year.
You can find skull molds at craft stores around the beginning of October or you can order them on Amazon. Meringue powder can be bought in most stores, but you can also get meringue powder online if you can’t find it near you.
How to Make Sugar Skulls
Sugar skulls are made very easily, although the decorating process can take some finesse and skill. Here is a recipe for sugar skulls themselves. Use royal icing for decorating as it will dry hard or buy your own in packs.
This recipe will allow you to have hardened sugar skulls in under and hour. You can also just let them dry overnight, but if you want to speed it up, follow the ‘baking’ instructions.
Decorate the skulls once they are cooled and completely hard. I bought some little flowers in the cake decorating area for the eyes. Get creative!
Sugar Skulls Recipe
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Tsp Meringue Powder
2 Tsp Water
Pre-heat oven to 150 or the lowest setting you have.
Mix the meringue and sugar together and gently sprinkle the water over the top. Using your hands, mix it until it feels like moist sand. It should somewhat hold up if you grab some and squeeze it together.
Place it in molds, making sure to press very hard to compact it well. Remove right away by flipping upside down onto a non stick cookie sheet.
“Bake” in oven for about 15-20 minutes with the door cracked. Check on them frequently as different ovens cook differently.
- 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tsp Meringue Powder
- 2 Tsp Water
- Pre-heat oven to 150 or the lowest setting you have.
- Mix the meringue and sugar together and gently sprinkle the water over the top. Using your hands, mix it until it feels like moist sand. It should somewhat hold up if you grab some and squeeze it together.
- Place it in molds, making sure to press very hard to compact it well. Remove right away by flipping upside down onto a non stick cookie sheet.
- "Bake" in oven for about 15-20 minutes with the door cracked. Check on them frequently as different ovens cook differently.
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