12 chocolate cupcakes
1 recipe chocolate icing
red shoestring licorice
12 large thimble-shaped, sugar-dusted gumdrops
12 Pringles-type plain chips
brown twine
1. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, ice the cupcakes with the icing.
2. To make strings for the hats, cut the licorice into lengths long enough to wrap around a gumdrop. Firmly press the ends together to form a ring. Place a ring around the base of each gumdrop. Set aside.
3. Lay a chip on each cupcake, tilted back slightly. Use a small amount of the icing as glue, then set a gumdrop on each chip, and place the knot at the back.
4. Tie a piece of string around each cupcake, lasso-style.
Decorates 12 cupcakes.