Happy Halloween! (Updated)

If you know me, you know that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I look forward to it all year. I always come up with more desert ideas for Halloween than anyone can possibly have time for and find all kinds of decorations that I don't have room for. You know how a lot of people set up elaborate Christmas villages in their homes? I have a Halloween village and it is awesome! I've been known to plan Halloween costumes over a year in advance.

This year has been a little different. I've been doing this crazy thing called working, and a lot of it. So while I've put in my time planning and online shopping for Halloween, there hasn't been a lot of time to actually DO Halloween. We do have our costumes ready to go and I can't wait to see how we all look. I'll update with pictures after trick-or-treating. And I managed to make these delicious caramel apple cupcakes with a little help from Miss Jaci.

She was a big help with the leaf sprinkles and putting the bats, pumpkins, and ghosts on just right. Each one that we decorates she assigned to a specific person. The one she is holding was the one she decorated just for her! I think she did a great job.

You must try these if you like apple, caramel, apple butter, or just cupcakes in general. They are delicious and pretty simple. You need the thick caramel dip for these and a jar of apple butter. I also used apple cider. I mixed up a cake mix with eggs, a little caramel, some apple butter, and some apple cider. I made the filling by combining caramel and apple butter. The frosting is a cream cheese buttercream with caramel and apple butter added. This is more of a spreadable frosting than a pipeable one. I made the trees by piping chocolate candy melts out into the shape of a tree. All the other decorations are store bought.

I hope you decide to give these a try. As always if you have any suggestions or recommendations please let me know.
-Happy Baking!

*Update*
Here is our collage from our Halloween trick-or-treating. Aren't we such a cute Stone Age family? My little brother also joined us as a zombie cowboy :)