O’ Tannenbaum Cupcakes

For an even speedier treat, use our candy Christmas trees to decorate already-baked goodies from the store.

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cups sugar
• 1½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1½ tsp. vanilla bean paste
• ½ cup butter, melted
• ½ cup milk

Frosting:

• ¾ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 Tbs. milk
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Decoration:

• Pretzel sticks
• 1 cup green candy melts, melted
• Wilton snowflake mix, confetti, candy cane
  and gold pearlized star sprinkles
• White nonpareil sprinkles

Instructions

1. For cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; reserve. In large bowl, on medium speed, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla extract and bean paste until combined. Add butter, milk and reserved flour mixture; on low, beat until blended. Evenly divide batter among cupcake liners. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Transfer from pan to racks; cool completely.
2. For frosting: On medium, beat butter until creamy. On low, gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar, then milk and vanilla until smooth
3. To decorate: On sheets of paper, draw 3½”x3 ½”x3 ¼” triangles; place on baking sheets. Top drawings with wax paper. On wax paper, place 2 pretzel sticks side by side in center of each triangle, as shown. Transfer candy melts to disposable pastry bag; snip 1/8″ opening in tip. Using drawings as guides, pipe candy melts in tree shape over pretzels. While still wet, decorate with sprinkles. Refrigerate until set, 20 minutes. 
4. To assemble: Spread frosting over cupcakes; sprinkle with nonpareils. Insert trees into