Want a great alternative to candy, candy, candy for your kids or grand kids at Halloween time? These fun Bat Cupcakes are a great choice, and their little friends, clementine “pumpkins”, are a healthy sidekick. Pair these with some green milk and you have a great treat to serve.
Fall is my favorite season and each year I think of how cool it would be to host a little family Halloween party at my house–not quite to the standards of Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor–but fun, nonetheless. It would be mostly for my grandchildren, but I think the rest of the family would enjoy it, as well.
But alas, every year I let the precious moment slip by without doing anything but a quick goodie bag for the 3 grands that live close by and a rushed package sent out to the other two who live way out in Utah. I am lucky to even get it together in time for them to have their goodies before October 31st! Do ya feel me?
Well, this year I set the intention to do it, and I did! Yay me!
It wasn’t really a party, but we had a fun Taco Bar for supper and then I had the boys stay in the front room while I got out the treats and arranged them beside our Halloween Tree on the kitchen island.
Let’s just say that they loved the Taco Bar and were thrilled with their fun treats. I might make this a tradition and maybe add to it as we go.
- 1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 pkg. Oreo Mini Chocolate Creme Sandwich Cookies--crush 1 cup & save 24 whole cookies for the bat bodies
- Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Chocolate Frosting (I made my own because I prefer that to the store-bought kind)
- 24 Keebler Grasshopper Cookies, cut in halves
- White decorating cookie icing (you won't need a lot)
- 48 candy eyes
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular muffin cups. I doubled up on the papers because it just looks nicer when you take them out of the pan.
- In a large bowl, beat cake mix, buttermilk, oil and eggs on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes. Stir in crushed cookies. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
- Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
- Frost cupcakes. Insert 1 grasshopper cookie half on each side of cupcake top to look like bat wings. Squeeze 2 small dots of icing onto each of the 24 mini Oreos and attach candy eyes. Place 1 mini Oreo between bat wings for the body.
- The original recipe does not list food coloring as an ingredient, but makes reference to it in the instructions. They don’t mention a color so I added some black to darken the frosting. It doesn’t really need it because the bat is brown anyway. But, whatever squeals your wheels.