Nutter Butter turkey cupcake

What You Need: White frosting; 1 Nutter Butter cookie (you can use the whole thing or just half); 5 short lengths of colored Twizzlers licorice; small bit of red licorice or molded candy (such as Starburst or Laffy Taffy) for wattle; 2 white M&Ms; 2 mini chocolate chips.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use dab of icing to attach M&M eyes with chocolate chip eyeball to Nutter Butter. Cut or mold red wattle and stick it to the cookie. Set on cupcake. Position colorful licorice behind cookie for feathers.

Fall tree cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; chocolate Twizzler licorice; candy-coated sunflower seeds; scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut length of Twizzler to slightly shorter than width of the cupcake. Use scissors to cut about four “branches” one-half to two-thirds of the way through the Twizzler. (It’s hollow.) Spread branches apart and place on cupcake. Sprinkle and/or place sunflower seeds on tree and ground for leaves.

Caramel acorn cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; chocolate sprinkles; Hershey’s Kiss; 1 caramel; toothpick.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake and add chocolate sprinkles around edge. Using clean or gloved hands, mold caramel into the shape of an acorn cap. Press onto wide end of Kiss. Use toothpick to press crosshatch pattern into caramel.

Scarecrow cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; chocolate (or black) Twizzler; shredded wheat (I used spoon-size); 2 black or brown M&Ms; orange chocolate covered sunflower seed (or substitute mini M&M turned sideways); black shoelace licorice; scissors or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Break apart shredded wheat and sprinkle or place at top and bottom for straw. Cut Twizzler into one length almost as wide as the cupcake and another length slightly shorter. Assemble as shown for hat. Place candy eyes, nose and mouth.

Thanksgiving corn cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; green sprinkles; assorted fall color Jelly Belly jelly beans; paper and scissors to make a template.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut a wedge shape from scrap paper to use as a template or “mask” and set it on the cupcake as you sprinkle the rest of the cupcake, forming a corn husk shape. Then remove paper and arrange jelly beans, either skinny side up (like this) or the other way.

Pilgrim hat cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; leaf-shaped sprinkles (optional); Oreo or other sandwich cookie; mini Reese’s peanut butter cup; red fruit roll; yellow (lemon) Starburst candy; knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with leaf sprinkles. Using dab of icing, secure wider side of unwrapped Reese’s cup to center of Oreo half. With knife, cut thin (appox. 1/4″) strip of fruit roll and wrap around base of Reese’s cup. Using clean hands, mold bit of Starburst into a “snake” shape, flatten, and bend into a square for buckle. (Pinch edges to make it more square.

Minty turkey cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; 1 thin mint patty (such as by Necco); Junior Mint; about 15 almond slices; candy eyes (or just use mini M&Ms or white icing); red writing icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake yellow. Place larger mint at center of cupcake. Using dab of icing as “glue,” put Junior Mint on larger mint for head. Add eyes and squeeze small line of red icing for wattle. Arrange sliced almonds in rows behind larger mint for feathers.

Raking leaves cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; stick pretzel; chocolate Twizzler; leaf-shaped sprinkles (such as by Wilton); scissors or kitchen shears.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Break about one-quarter of the pretzel stick off and discard (or eat). Cut about a 1-inch length of Twizzler. Insert scissors into Twizzler (it’s hollow) and make about six cuts around, about two-thirds up. Poke broken end of pretzel into intact end of Twizzler and fan out ends to look like a broom. Place on cupcake. Add leaves to “ground” and “air.”

Acorn cupcake

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white or off-white frosting; chocolate frosting; 2 Hershey’s kisses; 2 mini Nilla Wafers; pastry bag and round tip (No. 2 or 3, or just use premade icing in a tube or bag).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Use bit of chocolate frosting to attach mini vanilla wafer cookie to base of unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss. Use pastry bag or tube to add chocolate “stem” to wafer.

Turkey wattle cupcake

What would a turkey be without a wattle? (Or waddle, as I always thought it was spelled.) Thanks to decorating gel in a tube, you can outfit your Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes with one.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 6 candy corns; 2 candy eyes (or just use small candies); yellow writing icing in premade tube or pastry bag; red gel writing icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Load chocolate frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a #12 metal tip and coupler. Pipe large blob for neck and smaller blob for head. Add eyes. Use yellow writing icing to draw beak. Use red gel for wattle. Stick 3 candy corn on each side of cupcake for feathers.