BACK TO SCHOOL DAYS ARE HERE!

by Amanda Ashley

Yikes! Remember those ‘headed back to school’ feelings? You were either faint out of fear, or happy to be headed back after a “long and boring summer.” Well kids throughout America are bracing for the new school year to begin. Why not surprise your precious little one (or even precious big kid) with a cute, easy after school snack. It is as simple as taking their favorite candy bar as inspiration. From m&m’s to Snickers...decide which one they love and bake them their very own personal candy bar cupcake! The recipe below comes from myrecipes.com and seems fairly easy. If you want, you may even choose to purchase boxed cake and embellish the tops with prepared icing and diced candy pieces instead. Either way, they are sure to gobble them up and love you for thinking of them! They work hard... I would say the kids deserve it-how about you? enjoy. aa Heavenly candy bar cupcakes: Ingredients 9 fun-size or 21 mini chocolate-coated caramel and creamy nougat bars 1/2 cup butter or margarine 2 cups sugar 1 cup shortening 3 large eggs 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Chocolate-Marshmallow Frosting Garnishes: chopped frozen fun-size chocolate-coated caramel and creamy nougat bars, candy corn Preparation Melt candy bars and butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring until smooth. Set aside. Beat sugar and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer about 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Combine flour and salt. Stir together buttermilk and baking soda. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture, alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in melted candy bar mixture and vanilla. Place 36 paper baking cups in muffin pans; spoon batter evenly into paper baking cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from pan, and let cool completely on wire racks. Spread cupcakes evenly with Chocolate-Marshmallow Frosting. Garnish, if desired. Note: For testing purposes only, we used Milky Way Bars. Heavenly Candy Bar Cake: Spoon batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove cakes from pans, and let cool completely on wire rack. Spread half of Chocolate- Marshmallow Frosting evenly between cake layers. Spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. Garnish, if desired. Makes 12 servings. Prep: 15 min., Cook: 5 min., Bake: 30 min