Pumpkin Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Eyeballs

Aren't these cute?!  I made them for a kid friendly party we went to last night.

The cupcake faces were made from melting candy melts.  I outlined the feature with black candy and then filled the feature in with yellow for the light shining inside the pumpkin.  The stem is an almond.

The idea and template for the faces came from one of my favorite cupcake decorating books -- What's New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.  I made some modifications from the original recipe.

• My girls don't like Tootsie Rolls (the features), which is why I used the candy melts.  I did struggle with that at first because the candy wasn't smooth like I'd like (and like the picture).  Then I realized it would be flat because I'd be using the the other side!  I relaxed after that.    : )
• The almond was a substitute for the wheat twist pretzel (the stem) because I had almonds on hand.
• I made the cupcakes regular sized rather than jumbo sized as called for.
• Finally, I didn't make the picket fences called for.  No need to feed some softball players pretzel fences when they just want the cupcakes!

The second dessert we took to the party is one of my favorite peanut butter recipes.  The recipe dates back to Amber's second year playing soccer - 2009.  A mother brought them to our end of year party and I thought I'd died and went to heaven!  I made them as listed below, but I coated them with White Almond Bark (vanilla flavor) and then piped Chocolate Almond Bark (both found at WalMart) for the iris and veins.  I know they'd be more realistic with red veins, but they are done!

  Here's how I make them....

Peanut Butter Balls

3 C Rice Krispies

4 C Powdered Sugar

1 stick butter ‐ softened

2¼ C Crunchy Peanut Butter (more is okay)

½+ bar Chocolate Flavored Coating (Almond Bark is the brand – can be found at WalMart)

Crush the Rice Krispies (I use a potato masher).

Mix together the softened butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and crushed Krispies. Roll between hands to make balls about the size of a walnut (lately I’ve been making them smaller so you can eat more), put in fridge for about 15 minutes (you’ll want the balls to set a little).  Dip balls into chocolate coating. Depending on how large you make the balls will determine how much coating you’ll need.  I melt in batches and adjust the amount of coating I need. Put on cookie sheet and let set in fridge (about ½ hour). 

PS.  These freeze well.  I pulled mine out after a year, and they were just as yummy!