Before a major interview, most people wonder what they should wear. For Christine McConnell, the question was more, 'what should I bake?' The photographer had gained Instagram fame—and a book deal—posting images that featured her macabre desserts, like fanged "screamberries" and a Gizmo cake so realistic you'd swear it was either Photoshop or the start of a furry armageddon. Then, about a year ago, Tim Burton's people came calling.

"They wanted to meet with me to discuss a potential project to promote Tim Burton's new movie," McConnell told us. "I'm a massive fan of his, so I thought, 'I've got to bring something to the meeting that will knock their socks off.'"

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She baked for two days straight, creating chocolate and peanut butter "Beezlebub Buckeyes," complete with bared, fanged teeth and spiked pretzel antlers; spider cookies; and monster brownies that served up a serious dose of side-eye. Apparently the sweets impressed 20th Century Fox, earning her a gig creating treats and a themed calendar to promote Tim Burton's latest flick, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, out Sept. 30.

McConnell recreated the house at the center of the movie (and book) entirely out of gingerbread, sugar glass and royal icing—if you can believe it.

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Since the spindly Victorian isn't your typical squatty gingerbread house with a lean-to roof, McConnell didn't have a template to use, so she created one from scratch, cutting and creating the house out of cardboard, then using it as a stencil for her cookie dough. (Check out the spiderweb detail on the sugar glass-walled solarium in the bottom left photo below!)

McConnell used edible powder paints to color in the details, like the hunter-green roof. And, because the photographer doesn't do anything halfway, she also shot herself underwater using a GoPro camera, then Photoshopped the house in a bubble in the scene.

If you look closely, you'll see large numbers in the grass surrounding the house. That's a clock that runs backwards—a nod to the time travel in the story itself. As you can see from the video below, one half of the gingerbread house is lush and full of life, whereas the other has a darker, grim vibe.

[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftm7ptnNCJ0&feature=share[/youtube]

McConnell's also created the head of a Wight—a creature that consumes souls—in cake form, in addition to creating a 2017 calendar tied to the movie. More projects are in the works, McConnell's teased, though you'll probably have to stalk her Instagram to see them.

Until the next peculiar project's announced, you can always check out her six tricks for creating so-real-it's-creepy treats. Halloween is right around the corner, after all.

From: Delish US
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Candace Braun Davison
Deputy Editor

Candace Braun Davison writes, edits, and produces lifestyle content that ranges from celebrity features to roll-up-your-sleeves DIYs, all while relentlessly pursuing the noblest of causes: the quest for the world's best chocolate chip cookie.