Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Another dessert that I made for a festivity on St. Patrick's Day - which ended up getting cancelled. (a disappointment, but hey, when it's rescheduled I'll get another chance to try out a new recipe!!)

I made them as miniature cupcakes  because there were lots of kids expected at the party and little kids just like to lick off the frosting and toss the cake...or just take one bite, then toss the cake....or stick their fingers all over it, then toss the cake......if you've ever been to a child's birthday party, you know what I'm talking about.  

I figured with mini-cupcakes, I could minimize the loss of  delicious cake
I know there are some folks out there who don't like the chocolate/mint combo, but none of them live in this house. I guess if you add too much mint, you could end up with cupcakes that ended up tasting like toothpaste, and that would be less than appetizing, but with just a touch of flavor in there, it takes tasty but ordinary chocolate cupcakes and makes them into something memorable.

If you even saw how easily we put away a batch of these cupcakes.  It's almost embarrassing.
At least we were able to share some of them and give some away.

See, the problem with miniature cupcakes like these is that you can take just one, intending to have portion control and all that, but it's gone in about two seconds and you want to have at least eight more.  And since there's so many of them, no-one will notice if you just happen to take another one.

Recipe: cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart, idea from Tracy's Culinary Adventures
Yield: according to Martha, 18-24 standard cupcakes.  I made one and a half times this recipe and got 104 miniature cupcakes.

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used mostly Hershey's Dark Cocoa
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 coconut oil, melted (or other preferred oil)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon mint extract (omit if you want just chocolate cupcakes)
Andes Baking Chips, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard or miniature muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and mint extract, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Sprinkle the tops of cupcakes with Andes Baking Chips if desired.  Bake standard cupcakes until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Bake miniature cupcakes 13-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2-3 T. cream or milk
1/2 of a (7 oz) container marshmallow fluff (optional)
1/4 tsp. mint extract (more if you like a lot of mint)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Green food coloring (optional)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips or additional Andes Baking Chips, for garnish

In an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy.  Add powdered sugar gradually, alternating each cup with about a Tablespoon of milk or cream.  Add in marshmallow fluff if desired.  It's totally not essential, I just happened to have it on hand and added it.  It was delicious - but would be fine without it too.  
Add in extracts and green food coloring and beat until all is combined and frosting is desired consistency.
If you used unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor.  I used salted butter, so it wasn't necessary.  
Taste frosting and add more mint extract if you like.
Pipe onto cupcakes and garnish with chocolate chips or Andes Baking Chips.

Linked to Trick or Treat Tuesday