Saturday, September 25, 2010

Ghostly Cocoa Puffs Cupcakes

I was recently lucky enough to be asked to come up with a fun Halloween treat idea for Betty Crocker using Big G (General Mills) cereals.  While for some reason I’ve been thinking of ways to make a healthy treat and haven’t quite solidified anything yet, I did make some fun, yummy, spooky (ha) cupcakes that I wanted to share with you.

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BOO!  Ahhh!

These little ghosts could not have been more simple to make.  First, I used a Betty Crocker French vanilla white cake mix.  I’d never used the French vanilla cake mix before and thought it tasted great.  I was making mini cupcakes for a baby shower I made some treats for, so I used half of the batter for 24 mini cupcakes and made nine regular cupcakes with the rest.  You can adjust what size and how many cupcakes to make for your needs. 

Next I melted some white vanilla almond bark, then with a spoon spread little ghost bodies on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

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Before each ghost hardened, I made their eyes with Cocoa Puffs cereal.  (I tried a mouth on a few of them, but liked them better without.)  Aren’t they cute?  (I like my ghosst and all Halloween things cute rather than scary.)

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Cupcakes, done.  Ghosts, done.  Frosting, coming up.  I was in the mood for chocolate, but of course, you can use any frosting you’d like. 

I recently received The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook so I skimmed the book and decided to make their chocolate buttercream recipe.  I halved the recipe.  You can find the recipe all over the internet.

I frosted the nine regular sized cupcakes and one mini one with the chocolate frosting.  I also took some of the Cocoa Puffs cereal and put them in a plastic zip top bag and crushed them with a rolling pin.  After frosting the cupcakes generously, I dipped each one in the crushed cereal, then stuck one of the ghosts in the top.   How fun would these cupcakes be for a preschool or class party or even just your own little trick-or-treaters?

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Come on, you know you want one of these!  Besides being cute as can be, they were pretty tasty!  Bwahahahaha.  Scare up some Ghostly Cocoa Puff Cupcakes for your little trick-or-treaters.

Ghostly Cocoa Puffs Cucpakes

1 box Betty Crocker cake mix, made according to directions for cupcakes (your choice)

Favorite frosting of your choice

4 ounces vanilla almond bark, melted

1 ½ cups Cocoa Puffs Cereal, crushed (minus enough for ghost eyes)

Make the cake mix according to the directions on the package for cupcakes. Bake and cool on a wire rack. While the cupcakes are baking, melt the almond bark in a microwave safe dish in 30 second intervals. Once melted and smooth, spoon melted almond bark onto a wax paper lined baking sheets and swirl it into ghost shapes. Put two Cocoa Puffs on the ghosts as eyes before it hardens. Put the baking sheet with the ghosts into the refrigerator or freezer to harden. Put the remaining Cocoa Puffs cereal in a plastic zip top bag, seal it and crush them with a hard object, such as a rolling pin. Pour the crush cereal into a bowl.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them generously. Dip each frosted cupcake into the crushed cereal and coat it generously. Place one of the ghosts upright down into each cupcake. Serve.

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Note: *I was invited by General Mills to participate with other bloggers in creating a fun recipe idea for Halloween using select Big G cereals.  I am being compensated with a $50 gift card.

12 comments:

Heidi said...

cute I just bought cocoa puffs on sale at reams today for $.99

megan said...

Very cute Katrina!

I can't wait to see what your boys are going to be for Halloween this year - I can't believe it's only a month away!

Anna said...

Those are so cute! I wanted to make dirt with Cocoa Puffs too, but wasn't sure how the texture would be. Do the puffs taste okay on Day 2? At any rate, they look really cute. You could always serve them immediately.

Pamela said...

Super cute!

boyz2many said...

Very cute! And easy enough to be able to get a bunch done really fast. I just never have enough time to do some of the really cute things.

Kerstin said...

Awww, these are SO cute :)

Natalie said...

these are adorable! i almost wish i had a preschool party to take these too :) i might just have to make them for fun!

Unknown said...

Hehe these are adorable!! I love cocoa puffs :)

Plain Chicken said...

Cute! Great halloween cupcakes!

Eliana said...

These could not be more fun! And cute!!!

RecipeGirl said...

Those turned out super cute!!

Anonymous said...

So cute!