Now THIS is the kind of dessert I could have gotten on board with as a kid: Oreos that have been decimated to the point where total potential cookie intake is maximized like whoa.

Sidenote: somehow fifteen whole cookies translate into one teaspoon of ground-up cookie, and while I'm not exaaaaactly sure how to explain the physics behind this, I do know that my daughter ate 90 Trader Joe's Halloween-themed Jo-Jos in the course of an hour via six cups of worms 'n' dirt. And honestly, to me that seems...

Well...

Like a job extremely well done.

I cannot take credit for inventing this one - I found it on Pinterest - but I wish I could, because it's genius, costs next-to-nothing, and takes about five seconds (not counting the twenty minutes I spent hunting for a box of Band-Aids to add the all-important finishing touch).

Ew. I know. But Bloody Brains score extremely high on the effort/impact scale: they take just a few minutes to make, and everybody will have something to say about them. (That something will probably be "ew.")

Note: Popcorn balls are always best when they're super-fresh, but you can make these up to a day in advance provided you wrap them individually in plastic wrap and put them in an airtight container; the jelly will retain its shine really well.