Thin Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Warning- these are super duper chocolatey- so if you go into a heavenly chocolate mint coma after eating one, don't blame me. You were warned. 

 The thin mint themed recipes continue with thin mint cupcakes! You know I couldn't resist this one right?? The breakdown of what we have here is, chocolate and mint frosting, on a chocolate cupcake. I used some left over thin mint truffles and popped them in the batter- but honestly that didn't work that great. The fudge was a little too dense. If you want a surprise in the cupcakes I would suggest putting a whole cookie at the bottom of each cupcake before pouring the batter in. That's what I'm gonna do next time! If you can't get your hands on the cookies this will still replicate their classic chocolate mint flavor.

For the base I used my standby Martha one bowl chocolate cake recipe. Its an easy recipe with constant results, but what really makes it is the frosting. Also I've noticed that with this particular recipe the cake is yum day of, but the quality declines rapidly after. This is a great recipe to use for cake pops since its simple and only uses one bowl.

Thin Mint Cupcakes
adapted from- Martha Stewart
yield- 18 to 24 cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/ 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 thin mint cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line pan with cupcake papers and place a cookie in each one.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk & vinegar mixture, oil and vanilla to bowl and mix well until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom of the bowl to ensure batter is well mixed.

Pour batter into muffin cups, over cookies, filling 2/3rds full. Bake until the tops spring back when pressed lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

printable recipe

Chocolate Mint Frosting
yield- enough for 24 cupcakes. 


adapted from: allrecipies.com
yield: enough frosting for 2 dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp peppermint extract

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl combine sugar vanilla and 1/2 of the milk. Blend in the chocolate mixture. Whip on medium high setting of mixer with whisk attachment. Add peppermint and remaining milk a little at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

 

The best part about this frosting is that you can make it as minty as you want. Be careful. Peppermint extract is really strong. I only used a small amount in because I really wanted the taste to be mostly chocolate with a hint of mint.

In other news... Kevin finished my thin mints. Yep. I woke up last week to find the empty sleeve sitting on the kitchen counter. He claims that he had low blood sugar in the middle of the night and they were the only thing we had. Hummph. While I guess that is sort of a pretty good excuse for eating the last 4 thin mints it still sucks. I still haven't had a chance to make thin mint brownies, so I guess those girl scouts are gonna be getting more of my money.

Thin Mint Truffles

Recipe: Decadent Dark Chocolate and Mint truffles that are a cinch to make!

Welcome to part one of my Thin Mint themed baking experiments. I'm not really sure how many follow ups there will be, but I'm already thinking of some thin mint cupcakes and brownies. Lets start off easy though with some no bake Thin Mint truffles.

These yummy treats are very similar to cake balls, but instead are made with cookies, so they are actually even simpler, and don't require your oven. I think that thin mints are perfect for this- but you can use Oreo's too. If it's not Girl Scout Cookie season, you can find Keebler grasshopper cookies year round .  

(Ummm hey Girl Scouts this box of cookies is a whole lot smaller than when I used to sell them, yet the price is the same. not so cool.)

Thin Mint Truffles
makes about 3 dozen

2 packages of thin mints
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 bag of dark chocolate melts

Dump cookies into food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. In a large bowl combine crumbs and softened cream cheese and mix until thoroughly combined. Roll into small balls and refrigerate for 15- 20 minutes.

According to package directions melt chocolate. Dip cookie balls into chocolate, transfer to a baking sheet lined with wax paper, and allow to set. If desired sprinkle any decorations on before chocolate hardens. Store in fridge for up to a week and enjoy!

printable recipe

These are seriously easy to make if you just master the dip technique. (Which admittedly took me quite a while.) I use a toothpick to dip, and then blob a little more chocolate on top to cover the hole. Sprinkles and other decorations make things cute and cover mistakes and imperfections. Another tip is you should try not to burn your first batch of chocolate. I microwaved on high rather than 50%. Super Fail.

Sidebar: It has always bothered me that truffles means both chocolate and delicious fungus. Truffle french fries and cheese are ah-ma-zing, but would be considerably less so had they been drizzled in chocolate. Turns out the chocolates are named after the fungus (can we classify it as something else? the word fungus grosses me out) because they look similar. Truffles from the ground look sorta like little chocolate lumps. 

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting

Recipe Review: Rich dark chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting.

About a month ago Kevin woke me up in the middle of the night (not exaggerating- this happened somewhere between 1am and 3am). Obviously this must have been for something really important right? No... It was to tell me that he wanted me to make dark chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting "Like a peppermint patty- but a cupcake." Awesomeeee- Can I go back to sleep now? He has mentioned these dream cupcakes multiple times since then, so I knew I had to make them for his birthday.

Last year I made Kevin birthday cupcakes themed for the Hartford Whalers- his favorite hockey team (that now is no longer). It was one of my early attempts at artful cupcakes, and they were cute... but not really professional looking. This year I knew I wanted to do a better job, so I made Whalers themed  cupcake toppers.

**TIME OUT**

A note on cupcake toppers- I wish I could tell you that I have crafting superpowers, and that's why these turned out so well, but- Holy crap these were easy to make! And I even impressed myself with how well they turned out. People thought that they were store bought. Loveeee when that happens, its an awesome compliment. I followed these instructions from a tutorial on CakeJournal.com. A couple lolly pop sticks, paper punches and a little glue gunning and I had custom Whalers cupcake toppers!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from allrecipes.com
yeild: about 30-32 cupcakes

2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups all purpose flower
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate morsels
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In small saucepan on stove boil water. Remove from heat and add cocoa, whisking until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at at time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, beating on medium low until batter is fully combined. Fold in chocolate morsels.

Bake for 18-20 minutes in cupcake pan lined with baking cups. Allow to cool before frosting.

printable recipe

For the buttercream icing I just subbed peppermint extract instead of vanilla, adding it a little bit at a time till I got the right taste. Make sure you buy peppermint extract, not just mint extract which is a mix of peppermint and spearmint so it basically tastes like toothpaste.