It’s that time of year again…Halloween is right around the corner! My mom just sent out a Facebook invite for our family’s eighth annual Halloween Scary Movie Night and I shared a post this morning about the top 10 Halloween costumes and Halloween party themes, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share a few fun Halloween-themed snacks with you guys, like my favorite Halloween Muddy Buddies Chex Mix Recipe!
Chex cereal, peanut butter, chocolate and powdered sugar…all with a hint of orange – what’s not to love?
Halloween Muddy Buddies Party Mix Recipe
- 1 cup of Halloween Nestle chocolate chips, with the brown and orange chips divided
- (you can definitely substitute white chocolate chips for the orange and just add a touch of orange food coloring if you need to)
- ½ cup peanut butter , divided
- 1½ cup confectioners sugar, divided
- 1 bag of Reese’s Pieces (pick out the orange and yellow ones)
- 9 cups of Chex cereal, divided
- ¼ cup butter, divided
- Directions
- Melt your brown chocolate chips, ¼ cup peanut butter, ⅛ cup butter in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute, then stir. Cook for an additional minute, then stir until completely creamy. Pour 4.5 cups Chex cereal into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and pour the chocolate mixture over it and seal, then shake gently until all of the cereal is evenly coated. Then pour it into a new gallon-sized Ziploc bag and pour ¾ cup of the confectioners sugar and seal, shaking gently until all of the cereal is evenly coated in the sugar. It should lighten the color but you should still be able to see that it’s brown! Feel free to add more confectioners sugar if you don’t feel that they’re coated enough. There’s never really too much sugar!
- Repeat with the orange chocolate chips.
- I realize that it’s a total pain to go through this process twice but the results are freaking adorable!
- Pour each bag onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper and refrigerate for about 20 minutes to set. Pour both colored Halloween Muddy Buddies into a large bowl, add in your Reese’s Pieces and gently shake the bowl to mix the colors – it’s okay to use your hands to help them along!
As far as party favors go, why not try something a little different at this year’s Halloween bash and hand out these adorable little treat-filled jars?
They are so easy to make! You can use any candy you like, but I love using candy corn because, DUH, it’s Halloween!
How to Make Halloween Party Favors Craft
- Gather little jars, raffia or ribbon in Halloween colors, as well as tissue paper and Starburst Candy Corn. You might also want a hot glue gun if you want to make your raffia extra secure.
- Fill each jar 3/4 of the way full – or completely full, depending on how many bags of Starburst Candy Corn you have on hand – and place the lid on the jar.
- Place tissue paper over the lid and secure with the raffia paper. Tie in a bow and you’re done!
The fun doesn’t have to stop there – these little Vampire Bat Cupcakes are spooky AND delicious!
Halloween Vampire Bat Cupcakes Recipe
Cupcake Ingredients
40 Oreo cookies
1 box white cake mix (NOT the kind with pudding in it)
1 cup sour cream (do not use fat free or lite)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cupcake Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 cupcake cups with the liners and set aside. Take 24 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Place the side that has the icing on it in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Take the 24 discarded wafers plus the remaining Oreos and crush them in a large ziploc bag with a rolling pin. Set aside.
Add the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds. Turn your mixer to medium speed and mix an additional 1 1/2 minutes. Take one cup of the remaining crushed Oreos and gently fold into the batter.
Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full with the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Place cupcake pans on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from their pans and place individually on the wire racks to continue the cooling process. Once completely cooled, begin icing the tops.
Icing Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons whole milk (do not use skim or 1%)
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 1/2 cups powdered sugar ( a full 2 pound bag)
Icing Directions
Mix butter and shortening with a mixer on HIGH for 5 minutes. Reduce mixing speed to LOW and gradually add all of the powdered sugar. Mix in the vanilla and the salt. Add the milk gradually until your desired consistency.
Place a decorating tip inside your pastry bag and add the icing. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes and sprinkle each cupcake with remaining Oreo crumbs!
Top with your home-made Oreo cookie bat!
Oreo Cookie Bat Ingredients
Oreo cookies – regular size
Mini Oreo cookies
Brown candy melts
M&M candies
White chocolate morsels
Directions for one Oreo Bat
Melt 1/4 cup brown candy melts – this will be used as the “glue” to hold the pieces together.
Separate 2 mini Oreo cookies and set aside the sides with no icing on them (these will be used for the ears later). Dip 2 m&m candies (same color) lightly into the candy melt and press into the mini cookies with the icing up. This will be the eyes.
For the face, take a whole Oreo cookie. Dip the back of the 2 eyes that you just made into the candy “glue” and press onto the Oreo cookie. Let it set for about 10 minutes.
Take 2 white chocolate morsels and lightly dip into the candy melt and attach upside down to the face for “fangs.” Let set an additional 10 minutes.
Take a mini oreo that was set aside in step 2 and cut in half. Each half with be an ear. Dip the ears into the candy melt and attach to the back of the eyes. Let set an additional 10 minutes.
For the wings, separate a regular size Oreo cookie and discard the side with icing on it. Take the chocolate wafer and cut it in half. Dip each half into the candy melt and attach to the back of the face. Let it set for an additional 10 minutes.
Gently place your Halloween Oreo bat on top of your cupcake and you’re done!
I’m craving the muddy buddies, now! 🙂 I love the cupcakes, too. And what a cute Halloween party favor idea!
Gee – I want to go to your party! I love all of the snacks that you have pictured. I bet your party is the hit of the season.
The Vampire Bat Cupcakes are so neat! They would be a fantastic school treat!
Oh these look good Jenn, your making me hungry!
Such fun, creative ideas! I love muddy buddies and die for Reeses Pieces, so that is DEF something I’m going to have to make!
It’s okay to make these for breakfast, right? 😉 Everything looks delicious and I LOVE Halloween!
That looks great. Can i use mandm’s instead since we have a nut allergy in the house?
We don’t celebrate Halloween, but we can CERTAINLY celebrate those muddy buddies. That recipe looks AMAZING!
Love this in so many ways. I made sure to Stumble it (I just learned how!)… Love those bat cupcakes and how simple and cute are those party favors.
These are awesome! I cant wait to start Halloween party planning!
These look so yummy that cookie bat is so cute. I Love Halloween its definitely my favorite holiday.
The vampire bat cupcakes look amazing, I love how cute they are and would love to make them for Halloween.
That looks so yummy. What a fun Halloween treat!!
I love those cupcakes. I don’t have a little ones around here but I think I might try a few of these anyway. I think even my grown children would like one of those around Halloween. Lots of cute things in this post.
OH yummy! I know a few kids who would love for me to make this yummy treat for them. Delicious and festive!
What a fun mix of treats. We dont usually have any plans for Halloween. Its one of the holidays that kiddo just stays with her other family since she has a brother and sisters.
I love the vampire cupcakes. I love to take little treats to school for my kids, I will try this closer to halloween. Thanks for sharing.
Awww these are adorable snacks for Halloween. I love your muddy buddies which uses Reese’s Pieces. What a great idea! Thanks
So many goodies! I better start running more!
I love all of these! Such great ideas. i love the Muddy Buddies because they are so festive, (and yummy), but I love the cupcakes and the party favors too! You are very creative! I would love if you would stop by and share this post at my blog party, Celebrate It! It’s all about celebrating the everyday things we do!
http://thefreshmancook.blogspot.com/2014/10/celebrate-it-blog-party-12.html
Hope to see you there!
I’ve never had or made Muddy Buddies. But I can’t resist Reese’s Pieces.
Very cute idea for Halloween. Thanks for sharing!