Homemade Halloween Treats: Marshmallow Monster Cupcakes

You've probably noticed by now that my favorite thing to do in October is make Halloween treats! Some of them, like the mummy dogs, mummy meatloaf, and vampire margaritas, we make every year, and some of them, like the trick-or-treat cookies, we make once, wipe the sweat off our brows, and tell ourselves to enjoy the heck out of them because we are NEVER MAKING THESE AGAIN OMG.

Seriously, I still wince when I think about making those trick-or-treat cookies.

This October, I've so far been trying to make treats using just the supplies that we already have. So what can you make from cake mix and white candy melts leftover from your Girl Scout troop's Bridging party, marshmallows leftover from the latest campfire night, candy eyes probably leftover from Halloween 2018, and sprinkles that I surely need to use up this year because they've been on our shelves for... a while?

Marshmallow Monster Cupcakes, that's what!

These marshmallow monster cupcakes are loosely based on the Spooky Boo Brownies from the Betty Crocker website, except that the Spooky Boo Brownies look Pinterest perfect and these marshmallow monsters are horrifying and hilarious.

The marshmallow monster cupcakes are made from plain cupcakes turned upside-down and set on a cooling rack over a baking pan. Syd and I put a marshmallow on top of each, then poured melted candy melts over the tops of them. It was SUPPOSED to make the marshmallows look like ghosts, but I think it made them look more like grotesque squid beasts, so we decided to make them look even more monstrous by means of the liberal application of candy eyes and sprinkles:

Fun fact: these little monsters were also DELICIOUS! You could definitely elevate the quality of flavor by using, you know, NOT the cheapest store-brand ingredients like I did, but we loved biting through the crunchy layer of Kroger-brand candy melts into the soft Kroger-brand marshmallow and sweet Kroger-brand cupcake, and these monsters did not last long.

And then Syd and I used up the rest of the candy melts by skewering marshmallows, dipping them in candy melts, and rolling them through the sprinkles. And then I think I jumped on the trampoline for 20 minutes while Syd ran laps around the house with the dog, we were so buzzed on sugar.