Favorite Halloween Treat Recipes

Most of the time, because it was quicker, Mom used a cake mix to make cakes or cupcakes. However, she would usually add something to them to improve the flavor. Many times the "recipe" was right on the box. Here is the Duncan Hines Pumpkin Spice Cake, which I adapted for cupcakes. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

Duncan Hines Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes (2/3 full)

Ingredients

1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Spice Cake Mix
2 large eggs
1 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped nuts
2 tubs Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Classic Vanilla Frosting
red and yellow food coloring
Black licorice, candy corn, green licorice laces or twists

Baking Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, water and pumpkin in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in nuts. Pour into muffin tin lined with cupcake papers (2/3 full).
3. Bake 19 to 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes.
4. Tint frosting with red and yellow food coloring until frosting is desired orange color.
5. Frost cupcakes with orange frosting. Make eyes, mouth and nose with candy corn and/or black licorice or to make little pumpkins, follow the following instructions.

Pumpkin Decoration
Decorating Directions courtesy of Duncan Hines Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

1. Cut the licorice twists into 3/4 inch pieces to make the pumpkin stems. Tint the vanilla frosting orange with the food coloring. Tint 1/2 cup of the orange frosting a darker shade of orange with more food coloring. Spoon the darker orange frosting into a ziplock bag; set aside.
2. Place orange decorating sugar into a shallow bowl. Spread the orange frosting on top of the cupcakes mounding slightly in the center. Starting on the edge, roll the cupcake tops in the sugar to cover completely.
3. Use a wooden skewer to mark the ridges in the tops of the cupcakes. Starting in the center or slightly off center, lightly press the skewer over the cupcake tops to create 5 to 6 indentations. Snip a very small corner (1/16 inch) from the bag with the darker orange frosting and pipe lines of frosting in the indentations on top of the cupcakes. Insert the cut green twists for the stems and add the green laces, trimmed into shorter pieces, to make the tendrils.

Pumpkin Cupcake with candy corn photo is Creative Commons.

wax lips by Shaynay88

Wax Lips were my absolute favorite "store bought" Halloween treat. They were so versatile. You could wear them as a costume or chew them like gum. They tasted great.

My husband remembers the wax lips and the wax whistles, too. The whistles were really fun to play with and when you tired of blowing on them and making your parents crazy, you could chew them like gum. Sadly, the wax whistles are no longer available, but the lips are still around for kids today to enjoy.

Another wax creation, but not one of my favorites, were the little wax bottle drinks. They were way to sweet for my taste and the wax just tasted like wax. They are still manufactured today, go figure.

Candy Corn Poster ~ Halloween by DiEtte

Candy Corn is another treat from yester-year that is still popular today. We used to use the candy as decoration for cakes and cupcakes. They also look sort of neat in a clear plastic glove, laying around on a black table cloth. Or you can put the candy corn in the tips of the fingers like fingernails and use caramel popcorn in the rest of the glove. Tie the wrist with black and orange ribbons. They make nice party favors that way.

The taffy or what ever that stuff was in the black and orange wax paper was always the last thing I ate from my trick or treat bag. They looked like Halloween, all dressed up in the colors of the season, but I just didn't like the taste. All in all, it was probably the most despised of all the Halloween candy.

For those who would like a real taste of the good old days of Halloween, check this out. Boy what a haul this would have been!

Halloween BOO Retro Candy Gift Basket
Price: 32.99

Our Halloween BOO Retro Candy Gift Basket Contains Bit O Honey, Boston Baked Beans, Bottle Caps, Candy Buttons, Charms Sweet & Sour Pops, Coconut Bar, Cow Tales, Fun Dip, Giant Smarties, Hot Tamales, Jolly Rancher Sticks, Jujubes, Licorice Pipes, Lon Boys, Mike & Ikes, Neccos, Pixy Stix, Pop Rocks, Red Hots, Saf-T-Pops, Slap Sticks, Sugar Daddys, Unicorn Pops, Wax Lips, Bullseye?s Caramel Creams, Candy Necklace, Chick O Sticks, Bazooka, Giant Now & Laters, Lemon Heads, Mary Janes & Walnettos. Each box contains over fifty total pieces (a mixture of small, medium & full size candies) & weighs over 2 pounds (some items may be substituted when necessary).

Red Candy Apple Poster by halloweentreats