Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients

• CUPCAKES:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Yellow and red food coloring
• Pretzel nuggets (stems)

Instructions

1. 
   
   Heat the oven to 350º and line a 12-cup muffin tin with bake cups. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Set the mixture aside.
2. 
   
   In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the oil and sugar. Whisk in the eggs and stir in the vanilla extract.
3. 
   
   Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently stir the mixture until well combined. Explain to your child that she should stir only until she can no longer see any pockets or streaks of flour.
4. 
   
   Stir the pumpkin into the batter until it is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of one cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes sit in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool thoroughly.
5. 
   
   Meanwhile, make the Cream Cheese Frosting. In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat together the confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, butter, and lemon juice until smooth. Add about 12 drops of yellow food coloring and 4 drops of red food coloring and beat until the frosting turns orange.
6. 
   
   For authentic-looking pumpkins, pipe on the frosting to resemble a pumpkin's ridges. Fill a sealable plastic bag with frosting, snip a small hole in the corner, and pipe curved lines over each cupcake. (An easier option is simply to frost each cupcake orange and draw ridges from top to bottom with a butter knife.) Use pretzel nuggets for the pumpkin stems and cut flattened green gumdrops into leaves. Makes 12 cupcakes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Special thanks to familyfun.go.com

Hairy Daddy Long Legs Cupcakes

Ingredients

• Chocolate cupcake (body)
• Canned chocolate icing
• Chocolate sprinkles (hair)
• 2 pieces of eye-type candy (we used Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts)

• Clean scissors
• Ruler
• 1 package of black string lace licorice (legs)

Instructions

1. Frost the cupcake with chocolate icing and cover with sprinkles.
2. Press the eyes into place.
3. Use scissors to cut eight 4-inch pieces of licorice for the legs. Holding all of the legs together in a bunch, bend them in half and crease. Push the end of each leg into the cupcake as shown.

Special thanks to familyfun.go.com

Creepy Crawly Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 12 chocolate-frosted chocolate cupcakes
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chip
• Red food coloring
• Blue food coloring

• Light corn syrup
• Hot water
• 1 cup of chow mein noodles
• 1/2 cup chocolate cookie wafer crumbs

Instructions

1. Start with a dozen chocolate-frosted chocolate cupcakes. Then make the worm topping by melting 1/2 cup white chocolate chips in a microwave for 1 minute and stirring them until smooth.
2. Stir in 5 drops of red food coloring, 1 drop of blue food coloring, and 1 tablespoon each of light corn syrup and hot water. Gently fold in 1 cup of chow mein noodles until they are evenly coated.
3. Scoop the mixture onto waxed paper and use two forks to separate the noodles into individual worms or smaller clumps.
4. Allow about 20 minutes for the coating to set. Meanwhile, sprinkle the cupcakes with chocolate cookie wafer crumbs (1/2 cup should be plenty for one dozen) and gently press them into the frosting. When the worms are ready, arrange them on top.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Special thanks to familyfun.go.com

Creepy Cupcakes

Ingredients

• GHOST CUPCAKES
• 24 baked cupcakes
• 24 Nutter-Butter cookies
• Chocolate frosting
• Vanilla frosting
• Tube of chocolate decorator's icing

• SPIDER CUPCAKES
• 2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts or crispy rice cereal
• 3/4 cup dry chow mein noodles
• 24 baked cupcakes
• White frosting

Instructions

1. Coat each baked cupcake with chocolate frosting and partially insert a Nutter-Butter cookie into the top. Frost the remaining cookie with vanilla frosting. Draw a spooky expression on each ghost with the decorator's icing. Makes 24.
2. Make the spiders by combining the chocolate chips and milk in a glass bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until smooth. Stir in the peanuts or cereal and chow mein noodles.
3. Drop by teaspoons onto waxed paper. Stick on extra noodles for spider legs and chill. Frost the cupcakes white. Then top each cupcake with a spider. Makes 24.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Special thanks to familyfun.go.com

Brain Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 12 Cupcakes (Classic Cupcake Recipe)
• Buttercream Frosting

• Food Coloring

Instructions

1. Bake a batch of classic cupcakes.
2. Spread a coat of light orange icing (we stirred drops of yellow and pink food coloring, and just a touch of green, into 2 cups of buttercream frosting until we had a hue we liked) on a dozen cupcakes.
3. Use a pastry bag fitted with a number 10 round tip to top them with fat zigzags. It works best to first pipe two zigzags down the middle and then fill in the sides.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Special thanks to familyfun.go.com

Disappearing Lollipops

Ingredients

• 1 12-ounce package white
• chocolate chips

• 12 Popsicle sticks
• 24 red hot candies

Instructions

1. Pour the chips into a sealable plastic bag and seal. Microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, squishing the bag every 30 seconds until the chocolate melts (watch closely--chips burn fast in the microwave). Or, place the bag in a saucepan of simmering water until the chips melt.
2. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper and place Popsicle sticks on the paper, leaving 2 inches between each stick. When the bag of melted chips feels warm but not hot, snip a small hole off one corner and squeeze oval-shaped ghosts onto the top of the sticks, smoothing the chocolate with a table knife. Add two red hots for eyes. Refrigerate until hardened. Makes 12 ghosts.
   
   
   Special thanks to familyfun.go.com

Crunchy Corn

Ingredients

• 1 small can corn niblets

Instructions

1. Drain the corn and blot with a paper towel. Place aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and spread the corn evenly over the foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Let it dry on a kitchen counter covered with a dish towel. Once dry, store in a glass jar.
   
   
   Special thanks to familyfun.go.com