Need a treat for a school party? Get on board with these choo-choo cupcakes. To save time, your child can assemble the trains on waxed paper while you prepare the cupcakes.

Ingredients

• Prebaked cupcakes
• Frosting (enough to ice the cupcakes with a little left over for building the engines)
• Tootsie Rolls (the short kind, not the long kind)
• Toothpicks
• Red licorice
• Serrated knife

• Small peanut butter cups
• Cinnamon Red Hots
• Red gel icing
• Scissors
• White paper, markers, and tape

Instructions

1. Frost the cupcakes, reserving a little icing to build the train engines. For each one, unwrap a Tootsie Roll and slice off one third of its length (the Tootsie Roll is actually scored into three sections). Firmly press this slice atop the back end of the remaining piece so that it sticks in place to create the train engine's body.

2. Use a toothpick to anchor a 1/2-inch piece of licorice to the top of the engine for a smokestack. With a serrated knife, gently saw a peanut butter cup in half (a parent's job). Then attach one half, turned upside down, to the front of the engine to form a cowcatcher. Use frosting to stick three cinnamon Red Hots for wheels along the bottom of each side.

3. Set the engine on top of the cupcake and press it slightly into the frosting. Then use red gel icing to draw a train track in front and in back of the engine. Finally, cut out a paper steam puff. Print on the message "I choo-choose you!" and tape it to the toothpick.

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• Holiday & Seasonal Cupcakes |
• Party Food |
• Trains |
• Valentine's Day

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• Cupcakes and Cakes |
• Holiday & Seasonal Cupcakes |
• February 2002 |
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