Thanksgiving Turkey Cupcakes

By therman

Rene's recipe

Ingredients

• 1 box Betty Crocker™ SuperMoist™ yellow cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 container Betty Crocker™ Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting
• 4 oz vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark)
• 4 oz semisweet baking chocolate
• 24 Hershey's® Kisses® Brand milk chocolates, unwrapped

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2 In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and peanut butter with electric mixer on low speed 30 second, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (about two-thirds full).
3 Bake 18 to 23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Frost cupcakes with frosting.
4 Line cookie sheet with waxed paper. In separate small microwavable bowls, microwave candy coating and baking chocolate uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted and smooth. Place coating and chocolate in separate resealable food-storage plastic bags; snip off tiny corner of each bag. Pipe coating and chocolate into feather shapes, about 3 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide (see diagram). Refrigerate coating and chocolate about 5 minutes until set.
5 When set, peel feathers off waxed paper and insert into cupcakes. Place milk chocolate candy on each cupcake for head of turkey. Store loosely covered. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Tips:
* Cooking parchment paper can be used instead of the waxed paper to line the cookie sheet.

* To make the turkey feathers even more colorful, stir a small amount of red and yellow food color into the melted white candy coating to make it orange.

* If you have only one pan and a recipe calls for more cupcakes than your pan will make, cover and refrigerate the rest of the batter while baking the first batch. Cool the pan about 15 minutes, then bake the rest of the batter, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.