Super Mario Piranha Plant Cookie Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes with a royal icing sugar cookie top and candy corn teeth.

The Piranha Plants are the large, carnivorous plants encountered throughout the Mario series. Here’s how to turn these plants into a treat you can munch on!

Step 1: Assemble the Ingredients

Ingredients:

    Sugar cookie dough
    12 chocolate cupcakes
    M&Ms
    White frosting
    Red, green, and brown food coloring
    1/4 pound candy corn
    1 tablespoon meringue powder
    2 cups powdered sugar
    2 teaspoons lemon juice

Equipment:

    Lollipop sticks
    Cookie cutter with a point bit (or a knife)
    Sealable plastic bags
    Leaf tip for frosting (optional)

Because the royal icing will take a couple of hours to set, I did the cookies one day and put everything together the next.

Step 2: Create the Cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F!

First thing to do is start on the cookie top. You can use a tube of sugar cookie dough or your favorite sugar cookie recipe. If you're going with tube form, slice the cookie dough tube into 1/4″ slices. You can also roll out the dough so it's 1/4" thick and has a 2" diameter.

Take the cookie cutter – or a knife, but a cookie cutter is easier – and cut out a wedge from the cookie dough circle. I used a heart cookie cutter.

Flip the cookie dough over and use the wedge o' dough that you just cut out to reinforce the back of the cookie.

Repeat to create the rest of the cookies.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow to cool.

Step 3: Create the Royal Icing

For the royal icing, mix together the meringue powder and lemon juice, then mix in the powdered sugar. You’ll want the icing pretty thick.

Add a few drops of the red food coloring into the royal icing and mix.

Step 4: Decorate the Cookies With Royal Icing

Once the color is fully incorporated, scoop the icing into a plastic bag. Seal the bag, and snip off one of the corners.

Pipe the outline of the plant and fill in.

Repeat for all cookies and allow to set. I'll take a few hours; if you have time to let them set overnight, that's even better.

Step 5: Create Toofers

For the teeth, trim off the white tip of the candy corn.You’ll want four teeth per cookie.

Step 6: Complete Cookie Top

Scoop some of the white frosting into a bag (you'll want to save some frosting for the leaves), seal, and snip the corner off. Draw the mouth of the plant and the white dots.

Place two teeth on each side of the cookie mouth.

Step 7: Combine Cookies and Cupcakes

Take a cup of white frosting and mix in the brown food coloring. Scoop into a plastic bag, seal, and cut off the corner.

Take a cookie by the stick and push into the cupcake. If your cookie needs to be stabilized as mine did, add some M&Ms around the lollipop stick.

Cover the top of the cupcake with the brown frosting.

Repeat for all cupcakes.

Step 8: Add Leaves

Last step, the leaves! Take some white frosting and add green food coloring. I had a Wilton leaf tip so I got fancy, but using a plastic bag will work here, too.

Add a leaf on either side of the lollipop stem.

Repeat for all cupcakes.