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Jack Skellington Cupcakes
Make Jack Skellington Cupcakes, a Halloween recipe inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas, with step by step instructions provided by Spoonful.com. Enjoy this fun craft activity with your kids and family.
 

by Cindy Littlefield
Much as he wanted it to be, Christmas did not turn out to be Jack Skellington's forté. Still, with a bow tie that resembles a bat and apet dog whose nose looks like a glowing Jack-o'-lantern, Jack remains king of Halloween. After all, who else do you know that can remove his own head and put it back on again none the worse for wear? Inspired by this remarkable trick, these cupcakes make a sweet, if nightmarish, Halloween treat.

 
What you'll need
* Batch of chocolate cupcakes
* White buttercream frosting
* 2toothpicks
* Tube of black decorator's icing
How to make it
1. Frost the cupcakes.
2. For each cupcake, use the tip of a toothpick to lightly etch the outline of two large Jack Skellington eyes in the frosting.
3. Slowly pipe black decorator's icing onto the etched lines and then fill in the inner circles. Use another toothpick to spread and smooth the icing.
4. Pipe on two shortlines for a nose. Next, pipe a long line across the bottom of the cupcake for the mouth. For the finishing spooky touch, randomly top the mouth with a bunch of short icing barbs.

Jack Skellington's Sandy Claws Cookies
While Jack is now apt to leave official holiday business to the real Santa, he's still game to take part in a cookie swap or two.

by Cindy Littlefield
Being the patron saintof Christmas is no small order. Just ask a certain Pumpkin King (aka Sandy Claws) who once tried the jolly old elf's hat on for size. While Jack is now apt to leave official holiday business to the real Santa, he's still game to take part in a cookie swap or two.

What you'll need
* Batch of sugar cookie dough
* Red food coloring
* Disposable food preparation gloves (for kneadingfood coloring into the dough)
* Flour
* Wax paper
* Rolling pin
* Round cookie cutter (2.25-inch or so in diameter)
* Kitchen knife
* Spatula
* Baking sheet
* Wire cooling rack
* White cookie icing (the type that hardens when it sets)
* Flaked coconut
* Round white candies (such as Mentos)
* Black edible food marker

How to make it
1. Divide thecookie dough into two equal portions. Knead red food coloring into one portion and leave the other one plain.

2. Working on a flour-dusted sheet of wax paper, roll out the plain dough 1/4 inch thick. Use the round cookie cutter to cut out a bunch of Jack Skellington face shapes.

3.
Now roll out the red dough as you did the plain. Using a kitchen knife, cut out a red triangular hatshape (about 4 inches tall and 2 inches across the base) for each face.

4.
Use the cookie cutter to cut a curved notch in the base of each hat, as shown.

5.
Top each of the faces with a hat, draping the curved edge of the triangle over the top edge of the circle. Use your fingertips to gently press down on the overlapped dough layers (just enough to make them stick together). Thencarefully fold over the top of the hat, as shown

.
6. Use a spatula to transfer the assembled cookies to a baking sheet, and bake them according to the recipe directions. Allow the baked cookies to cool briefly on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Spread white cookie icing on the face portion of each cookie. Then set the cookies aside for a fewhours to let the icing harden.

8. Use the edible marker to draw Jack Skellington facial features on the hardened icing. For the best results, position the mouth close to the lower edge of the cookie and leave a little space above the eyes to trim the hat.

9. Now give each hat a "fleecy" brim by applying a line of cookie icing along the edge and pressing coconut flakes into the...