Trick or TREAT?

With Halloween approaching closer and closer I thought it would only be appropriate to do a post in its honor. Growing up I would have halloween parties every year with my friends who would come over and we'd decorate cupcakes in various halloween themes. I decided to come up with a few types of halloween treats to enjoy during the holiday.

White Chocolate Eyeballs:
You'll need:
chocolate malt balls
white chocolate chips
m&m's
red piping gel
wax paper

How to: 
Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler until fully melted. Make sure to stir it so it does not burn. Once melted dip the malt balls in the white chocolate until they are fully coated. Place the newly coated malt ball on wax paper. After dipping all your malt balls in white chocolate, place a m&m on the top of the malt ball. Let the malt balls refrigerate until firm and then pipe squiggly lines of red piping gel on the "eyeballs" for a veiny effect.

Mummy Cupcakes

You'll need:
cupcakes of your choosing
m&m's
white icing
piping bag with a flat tip

How to:
With your cupcakes pipe a dot of icing to secure your m&m's for eyes. The icing will act as glue and help keep the m&m's in place. Next fill your piping bag with your white icing and start piping strips of icing across your cupcake to mimic mummy rags. Make sure to pipe the lines in all different directions to give your mummy a nice "wrapping".

Vampire's Favorite Cupcakes

These cupcakes have a "bloody" center that will be sure to spook out your guests!

You'll need:
cupcakes of your choosing (preferably vanilla so as to see the "bloody" center better)
cupcake corer
strawberry jam
vanilla icing
red food coloring

How to:
Before icing your cupcakes make sure to core the center of your cupcake by using a cupcake corer. This will create a hollow center in your cupcake which you will scoop some strawberry jam into. Next ice your cupcakes with vanilla icing and finally drip some red food coloring on the icing to emulate blood. You're guests are in for a "bloody" surprise once they bite in!

Spiked Apple Cider

For me, the fall season is always defined by the smell of leaves, the crips air, leaves crunching under my boots, and of course the special seasonal drinks and treats that make an appearance. Here at Michigan a common fall activity is a trip to a cider mill to get freshly made apple cider, caramel dipped apples, and cider donuts. Recently my fridge was been stocked with these seasonal goodies with my roommates making multiple cider mill trips. Being a big apple cider fan, I decided to make my nights out a bit more seasonally festive by incorporating some hard cider into my pregames.

You'll need:

1 gallon of apple cider
2-3 cinnamon sticks
A little less than a teaspoon of nutmeg
Zest from 2 lemons
2 cups of dark rum

How to:

Boil the cider, cinammon sticks, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes, then strain out the lemon zest. Add the rum and enjoy!