Halloween treat...Spooky Cupcakes!

It is that spooky time of year, where all of our children enjoy dressing up in all of their favorite characters and dream of candy and yummy treats! Halloween has never been a huge focus for me, though my kids love to get to dress up and they also love the yummy treats that just go with this time of year.

Parties seem to be happening everywhere, from school, to neighborhoods, to friends and family. Planning for a party when you have food restrictions can be stressful for us moms! I know when we first started down this road of gluten-free living, the holidays always brought stress to my life. Hopefully, this year won't be as stressful for you and your family with a little help from those of us here atGling!

There are so many options out there for you to try, yummy old favorites that can be made to please your gluten-free, corn-free, egg-free and dairy-free family and friends. Today, I'm going to share with you a recipe that is gluten-free. You can easily adapt this treat to fit any food restrictions, using a tried and true recipe or mix of your own.

This recipe is not one that I think would work well for dairy- or egg-free, but there are many recipes and mixes that would work very well in it's place. Just play with them to create your own Spooky Cupcakes.

Using the recipe here on Gling, I added orange flavored and colored frosting. Then I topped some of them with some spooky spider rings. The others I just added some Halloween colored M&M candies and fun Halloween sprinkles.

Get creative, take some time and make spider webs on the frosting. Make a black cat face with black frosting. Play with it, get the kids involved in the decorating. Just adding some fun sprinkles will dress up your Spooky Cupcakes.

As with everything, always check that the candy and decorations you are using don't contain any gluten or other additives that you need to avoid. Never assume that every candy that is usually safe, is always safe. Some of your favorite candy that is safe the rest of the year can contain gluten when they make them into the fun holiday shapes.

If you are looking for a different recipe to try, there are lost of them here on Gling! Try making the Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake or even Apple Cake. There is no end to the possibilities and most of them will make wonderful cupcakes! Just make sure that you adjust your baking time for the smaller cake size.

I would LOVE to see what everyone can create with this recipe. Play with it, create your own using your own favorite mix or recipe. Hopefully you will post pictures of your creations so we can all be inspired to play more! I know I love seeing what other people can create, it always gives me more ideas for how to do the next fun food project. So please, share your favorites with us all!