Halloween cupcakes

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it is almost October. I desperately want it to feel like Fall, but Mother Nature clearly has other plans. One day I’m wearing boots and a sweater and for the next five, it’s back to t-shirts and flip flops.

Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies are made fun and festive with candy eyes and bright swirls of buttercream frosting. Boo could resist?!

While these Purely Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies were perfectly delicious on their own, I decided to jazz them up a bit by adding in colourful Halloween sprinkles and pretty swirls of buttercream. However, if using food dye is not your thing, simple spirals of plain buttercream create adorable ghosts that are pretty darn boo-riffic!

Ingredients: 

for the cookies: 

150g salted butter, 

50g light brown muscovado sugar 

80g granulated sugar 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 large egg 

225g plain flour 

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt 

200g plain chocolate chips

for the buttercream: 

1 cup unsalted butter 

3 1/4 cup icing sugar 

1 1/2 tsp PURE vanilla extract ** pure extract will help maintain the bright white colour**

1-2 tbsp of milk 

gel food dye, optional

Method: 

for the cookies: 

1. preheat oven to 190 degrees. line two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment paper
2. put the butter and sugars in a bowl and whisk until creamy. beat in the vanilla extract and egg. sieve the flour, bicarb of soda and salt with a wooden spoon. add the chocolate chips and stir well. 
3. using a spoon place small dollops on the parchment paper, using a round cutter fill the dough to the sides.
4. bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until light and brown on the edges. leave on tray for a couple of minutes to firm up and then transfer to a cooling rack

for the buttercream: 

1. in a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. slowly adding one cup at a time beat in the icing sugar. 
2. fold in the vanilla extract and if its to thick add tbsp of milk 

can use dye if you want a different colour