Edible Ornaments

Makes 24 ornament cupcakes

These ornaments are a press-and-play project: there’s nothing more to it than pressing candies into the frosting. No piping fancy designs, no complicated shaping, and nothing to melt. Simply frost the cupcakes, roll them in sugar, choose colorful and graphic candies, and press them into your own beautiful designs. Make a batch for a holiday dessert or put them in mini gift boxes for a sweet party favor or take-along gift.

• 8 vanilla cupcakes baked in red paper liners (see Sources)
• 8 vanilla cupcakes baked in green paper liners (see Sources)
• 8 vanilla cupcakes baked in white paper liners
• 2 cans (12 ounces each) whipped vanilla frosting
• ½ cup each green, light green, red, yellow, and white decorating sugars (available at baking supply stores or see Sources)
• 24 yellow spice drops
• Black licorice laces, cut into twenty-four 1¼-inch pieces
• 24 thin pretzel sticks
• Assortment of colored fruit chews and fruit leather (Laffy Taffys, Airheads, Starbursts, Fruit by the Foot)
• Red licorice laces (Twizzlers Pull-n-Peel)
• 1 cup mini candy-coated chocolates (M&M’s Minis) Cinnamon Red Hots or candy decors

1. Spoon ½ cup of the vanilla frosting into a ziplock bag, press out the excess air, seal, and set aside.
2. Place the decorating sugars in separate small shallow bowls. Spread the tops of all the cupcakes with the vanilla frosting, mounding it slightly (see Techniques). Starting at the edge, roll the top of each cupcake in one of the sugars to coat completely.
3. To make the top of the ornament, use a round toothpick to poke a hole in each end of one of the spice drops. Bend one of the black licorice pieces in half and insert both ends into the hole in the bottom of the spice drop to make a loop. Insert one end of a pretzel stick into the hole in the rounded top of the spice drop, pushing it in about ½ inch. Press the other end of the pretzel all the way Into one of the cupcakes. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
4. Roll out the fruit chews on a piece of wax paper to ⅛ inch thick. Use a pastry wheel, clean craft scissors, or regular scissors to cut the fruit chews and fruit leather into decorative pieces. Arrange the fruit-chew pieces, fruit leather, and red laces on top of the cupcakes to make stripes, bands, and lines. Snip a ⅛-inch corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting and pipe dots in different patterns over the cupcakes and on top of the fruit chews. Press the chocolate candies, Cinnamon Red Hots, and candy decors into the frosting to secure.
5. Set the cupcakes in another paper liner and place in small boxes or on a serving platter.