Owl Things Considered

Last month I saw these cupcakes from Sweet Custom Treats:

I knew I wanted to make something similar, but I wasn't totally into the idea of pretzels on my cupcake, so  decided that some Ovation Mint Chocolate Sticks would be the perfect replacement.  you probably have had these chocolates before - restaurants used to give them out with the bill?  They look like this:

Tragically, it would appear that these are a "seasonal item" as I went to about 15 different stores looking for them and no one was selling them. I posted on Facebook, seeking help - lots of good suggestions, but none of the leads produced anything. I even went to stores that I figured would have leftover Christmas stock they hadn't gotten rid of (hello, dollar store!), but, NO DICE.  I was ready to give up, when my mom produced some non-Ovation brand version of the sticks bought at various specialty stores across the province:

So. armed with my mint chocolate sticks, I made some Devil's Food Cupcakes and rushika and I got to work.

First, we constructed eyes out of Hershey's Cookies & Cream Drops and some melted chocolate:

Then we iced the cupcakes with a simple chocolate buttercream icing, adding the eyes and chocolate mint "branch,"  as well a  beak - candy previously used for the carrot noses of melted snowmen cookies.

We melted a few yellow candy melts and drew on talons using a #3 icing tip.  GORGEOUS.