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Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Bites – Copycat Recipe

Sweet or savory pretzel bites with an iconic golden chewy crust and soft homemade pretzel dough, just like Auntie Anne serves them.

No trip to the mall is complete without some fresh Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Bites.

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Smoked Cream Cheese

By Kleinworth & Co 1 Comment

Smoked Cream Cheese is perfectly seasoned, and smoked over low heat with a touch of applewood. It’s the perfect addition to any hors d’oeuvre tray, or it can be used as a dip for chips or fresh vegetables.

I don’t know about you, but when summer and fall come around – I’m all about the snacks and appetizers. You just can’t beat the ease of having snacks that you can graze on instead of sitting down for a large meal.

In this house – we are ALL ABOUT the snacks and when we can make the snacks on the Traeger – we are ALL IN. So that’s where this AMAZINGLY creamy, melty deliciousness comes in with this cream cheese recipe made on the smoker.

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Broken Glass Cupcakes

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If you’re looking for a fun (and stunning) dessert to serve at your Halloween party, look no further than Broken Glass Cupcakes! These cupcakes are made with a simple cupcake recipe and topped with candy that looks like broken shards of glass. Don’t forget the candy blood to make them extra spooky.

These Broken Glass Cupcakes are a super fun treat to serve at your next Halloween Party. We start with a simple doctored cake mix recipe and then create “broken glass” with homemade hard candy.

Then we add a little red gel to finish them off – because broken glass isn’t complete without the “blood” that comes with it. These are sure to be a hit at your Halloween celebrations this year!

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I don’t know about you – but when it comes to Halloween, once the kids got to a certain age they would always prefer to stay home and pass out candy instead of going out into the neighborhood.

But I wanted them to have something fun to enjoy, just the same. So I would always whip up some sort of cute treat for them to snack on while they greeted all the little kids.

These broken glass cupcakes are super spooky and absolutely perfect for a Halloween celebration.

spooky Halloween cupcakes

Here are some commonly asked questions

What is the best way to store leftover broken glass cupcakes?

The most important thing is to keep them in an airtight container. I like to keep them refrigerated since the frosting does have milk and butter in it.

Now- I must say, they do keep better when they have only been partially decorated. So typically I will bake the cupcakes and add the frosting. Those go in the fridge.

Then I keep the glass candy in an airtight container in the pantry. The gel stays fine at room temperature until the container is opened. So since I do open that to make the cupcakes, I’ll pop that in the fridge after taking what I need for them.

When it comes time to serve – I just add the candy on top, then the blood, and they are ready. Super easy to prep ahead.

Can broken glass cupcakes be frozen?

Yes, I do it often. Once baked – these cupcakes can be frozen at most stages of the creation process. I like to remove the freshly baked and cooled cupcakes from the pan, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and freeze them for later use. (this is also handy when you want to work with cold cakes to keep the frosting from getting too soft.)

You can also place the frosting decorated cupcakes in an airtight container where the frosting won’t get crushed, and freeze them until you need them. Add the candy glass and the gel blood at the time of serving – not before freezing.

Just make sure to thaw the cupcakes in the fridge the night before as they do taste best when not frozen. I also like to leave them at room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving so the frosting is more creamy than stiff.

Why do the ingredients need to be at room temperature?

Room temperature ingredients help to ensure that everything blends together perfectly. You don’t want any pockets of unblended butter. You want everything evenly disbursed for the perfect texture.

When your dairy products are at room temperature, they can create an emulsion. It’s essential to have an emulsion because air gets trapped, so the baked goods expand and get fluffy as it bakes.

Ingredients for Broken Glass Cupcakes

Cupcakes

white cake mix
water
eggs
vegetable oil
strawberry pie filling

Buttercream Frosting

butter – room temperature
vanilla extract
confectioner’s sugar
salt
heavy cream

Glass

granulated sugar
water
corn syrup – light
cream of tartar
strawberry pie filling gel

What are broken glass cupcakes?

These broken glass cupcakes are fun, strawberry-filled cupcakes that are topped with buttercream frosting, candy made to look like broken glass, and then topped with strawberry gel to look like blood. They are a super cute treat for any Halloween celebration!

How to Make Broken Glass Cupcakes

Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare two muffin tins with baking cups. Spritz the baking cups with nonstick cooking spray.
Mix the cake mix according to the package directions with the water, oil and eggs.
Using a large scoop, fill the cupcake liners two-thirds full.
Spoon ½ teaspoon of the pie filling into the middle of each cupcake. Swirl slightly with a toothpick or knife.
Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick in the center returns clean.
Place the muffin tins on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes prior to removing the cupcakes to cool completely.

Frosting

Beat the butter on high for 3 to 5 minutes or until creamy and light in color.
Mix in the vanilla.
Add the sugar, salt, and whipping cream, beating on low until the sugar is incorporated and then switching to high speed and scraping down the sides as needed.
Beat the frosting until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stir slightly to remove air pockets.
Transfer the frosting into a decorating bag with a star tip and frost with a circular motion on top of each cupcake.

Glass

Prepare a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large saucepan, stir together the sugar, water, corn syrup, and cream of tartar.
Place over medium-high heat and while stirring constantly bring the mixture to a boil.
Continue boiling the mixture until it reaches 300 degrees, or hard ball stage.
Immediately pour the syrup onto the prepared baking sheet. Exercise caution when moving the baking sheet as it will be VERY hot.
Allow the syrup to cool completely into a solid.
Once solidified, strike the candy with the back of a metal spoon or butterknife to crack it into large shards.

Decorate

Press the shards of candy glass into the cupcakes and then drizzle with the strawberry pie filling gel on top to simulate blood.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best if served within 8 hours.

What’s The Secret To Moist Cupcakes?

The key to moist, fluffy cupcakes is to create air bubbles in the batter that expand during baking. You’ll wind up with dense, heavy cupcakes if you overmix your batter. Always use a low speed when mixing and stop just before all of the components are combined.

Sugar Glass Cupcakes Recipe

What do you mean by soft butter?

You will need to take your butter out of the fridge about an hour before you would like to make the recipe for the butter to soften but not get too soft.

How to soften the butter to room temperature?

First

There are a couple of ways to do this. The first being that you can take the butter (& any other ingredients that need to be at room temperature) out, leave it on the counter for about 30 minutes while you prep for baking.

I usually start with all my chilled ingredients and pull everything I need out onto the counter before getting started – so I know for sure I have everything before I’m mid-way through I realize I’m out of something.

But sometimes it’s winter and that isn’t enough time to get the ingredients warmed up – OR – I’m just not that organized to plan ahead. It happens. So I have another couple of tricks.

Second

I place the butter in the microwave – wrapped in the paper. (don’t do this if it is wrapped in foil) Then I microwave for 2 seconds – flip – go another 2 seconds – flip again – and continue for 2 seconds on each side.

This is usually enough to get it perfect – sometimes stopping before if it feels soft enough. Take care when doing this method – overly softened butter from the microwave WILL ALTER the end result of the recipe. Don’t over-do it.

Third

My third method is to place the wrapped butter sticks in a zip-top bag and place it in a bowl of warm water. I do this with the eggs too. If the water isn’t too hot it can be THE PERFECT way to get “room-temperature” ingredients.

Decorating Halloween Cupcakes with Candy Glass

Other Halloween Recipes to Try

How do I store buttercream frosting?

Buttercream frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Simply let it come to room temperature before using it.

Can I freeze buttercream frosting?

Yes, you can freeze buttercream frosting. Simply place it in an airtight container and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge before using it.

Pro Tips

Any red pie filling can be used as a substitute for the strawberry pie filling. Fresh and/or frozen strawberries are not recommended unless using your recipe to make a syrupy pie filling prior to using them in the cupcakes.
Try making these with my red velvet cupcakes recipe for a fun twist.
You can omit the strawberry filling in the cupcakes and just bake the box mix according to the package directions.

The blood can also be simulated by using the red piping gel that comes in the tube. It is typically used for decorating cookies – but will also work fine for these cupcakes.

Be sure to use a candy thermometer when making the hard candy glass. But I do recommend not attaching it to the side of the pan as this will cause it to get too hot where it is attached and the sugar mixture will burn – especially when getting the temperature to the hard crack stage when making this basic hard candy recipe.
Swap out the buttercream frosting for cream cheese frosting when making these bloody broken glass cupcakes.

You can also make these cupcakes using red food coloring.
Be sure to use light corn syrup and white sugar (usually called granulated sugar) when making the candy glass.
Use a sturdy, heavy-bottomed sauce pan when making the candy glass shards.

This recipe can be made with red velvet cake mix or you can make it with devil’s food cupcakes.
Be sure to add the pie filling to the center of each cupcake.
The edible fake blood can also be made using cherry pie filling.

bloody broken glass cupcakes

Any white frosting or vanilla frosting can be used.
Make sure you are using a jelly roll pan not a cake pan to make the broken sugar glass or edible glass shards.
Add a little non-stick spray to the cupcake liners to keep the cake batter from sticking.

Place the glass in the top of the cupcake.
This recipe can also be made with homemade yellow cake.
We have also tried this recipe using strawberry jelly instead of the pie filling and that worked great too.

Sometimes we like to add a dram of cinnamon oil to the glass recipe for added flavor.
This has the best dramatic effect when decorated with white icing, however, you can frost cupcakes using any color frosting you like. They would also be a total hit with black frosting.

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Products I love when making Halloween Cupcakes…

This broken glass cupcake recipe is SUPER EASY and delicious – and if you’re like me this time of year, then you maybe already have some of these items on hand OR maybe you have never made fun treats like this before, & you might be a bit nervous – but you’re going to love it. I have made a list below of the things I absolutely can’t live without when it comes to making this spooky recipe. (you can also SHOP MY FAVORITES in my store)

If you love this easy broken glass cupcakes recipe, you’re going to love these other Halloween treats too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Ghosts in the Graveyard Dessert

This one’s for the kids! Ghosts in the Graveyard Dessert is a creamy chocolate pudding topped with crushed Oreos, spooky trees, worms, and ghosts.