Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

It is safe to say that my favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip. I was a little unsure how I would like the taste of a mint chocolate cupcake but when I saw what Mel from Mel's Kitchen Cafe added to the middle of hers, I knew I had to give these a try! I usually have no problem using a box mix to make my cupcakes but I noticed I had a nearly full box of Hersey's Cocoa powder in my cabinet that I wanted to use up, so I made these from scratch using the recipe on the back of the box.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Combine the dry ingredients, sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix with hand mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes and then add boiling water. The batter will be on the thin side. Pour into prepared pan. I filled mine a little over half way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. When they are cool make the chocolate filling.

Place chocolate chips and whipping cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat for one minute, at 50 % power. Stir and repeat till smooth. Stir in peppermint extract and powder sugar and whisk till smooth. A note about the extract. I was at the store and noticed they also have "mint" extract. I was very tempted to buy this instead of the peppermint but after doing a little research I found that most people find the mint extract to taste too much like toothpaste. Definitely not the flavor I was going for, so I stuck with the peppermint. Let the chocolate hang out on the counter and come to room temperature, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't become too stiff. I found that using a Ziploc bag worked well for putting the chocolate into the cupcake. I placed the chocolate into the baggie and snipped the end off. Placed the tip down into the cupcake and squeeze the filling in. Repeat for each cupcake. For the frosting I used my go tocream cheese butter cream frosting and tinted it with the Wilton icing color in Leaf Green. I had some help in the kitchen this time from my sister so I let her take over some of the decorating. Here she is in all her glory taking the icing bag and putting it to work. Once you have iced them, place an Andes mint on top of each cupcake.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

For the cupcakes

2 cups Sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup Hersey's Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Mix above ingredients in large bowl, and add

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Once all ingredients are combined, add in

1 cup boiling water

Mix till combined, the batter will be thin. Place cupcake liners in muffin tin and fill a little over half full. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pan and let cool. Meanwhile begin making chocolate filling

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3 TBLS heaving whipping cream

1 tsp. peppermint extract

1/3 cup powdered sugar

In a microwave safe bowl mix chocolate chips and whipping cream. Microwave for 1 minute at 50% power. Remove and stir. Repeat until smooth. Add in extract and powdered sugar and whisk till smooth. Once cooled to room temperature place in a Ziploc bag and snip the corner off. Push the tip into each cupcake and fill.

Decorate by either using a star tip or just by simply spreading frosting on top of the cupcake. Top with unwrapped Andes mint. Enjoy!

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