Halloween Candy Filled Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 "fun sized" candy bars, chopped (I used Oh Henry, Goobers and 100 Grand bars)

cream cheese frosting
candy and sprinkles for decorating (I used skull and bones shaped SweeTarts and sprinkles)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour or line 12 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and milk. Beat well. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until the batter is light and fluffy. Fill each well 3/4 of the way. Sprinkle with chopped candy (I used one variety per cupcake but you could mix) and poke the candy into the cupcake with a chopstick. Smooth the batter on the top of the cupcake, covering the candy. Bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the middle cupcake comes out clean.

My thoughts:

This is the perfect candy to use up Halloween candy before or after Halloween. The cake itself isn't too sweet so the addition of chopped candy doesn't push it to sickly sweet, treacle territory. The candy adds a burst of chewy (or peanut-y) chocolate in the center that is a fun surprise. I was careful there is nothing visible from the outside of the cupcake to tip that there is a treat inside. I did a little experimenting and found that caramel based bars without nougat or simple candy like chocolate cover peanuts or fruit work the best. Nougat has a tendency to run, while the caramel melts but pretty much stays put (see above, that was a 100 Grand cupcake). You could skip the candy on the top but I loved how detailed the SweeTarts candy was this year. One note, the candy in the individual fun sized SweeTarts bags is smaller than the candy in the full sized bags, I used both but either would work. Just have fun with it.