Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

For my young adults group last week I decided to make cupcakes. Chocolate mint cupcakes to be exact. And I had several recipes I wanted to try out so I decided to just go for it and I realized that each recipe only made one dozen. I was expecting to have 10-15 people at the young adults group and young adults have a tendancy to like home baking so I figured I'd need at least two for each person. So I figured I needed at least two dozen cupcakes or possibly three dozen. And it turned out I had three chocolate mint cupcakes recipes that I wanted to try out. So I went for it.

Peppermint Patty Brownie Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine (or butter)
1 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
12 peppermint patties

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups. Melt together butter and chocolate chips. In another bowl mix sugar and salt, stir in melted chocolate. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in cocoa and flour. Spoon one spoonful of batter into each muffin cup. Place a peppermint patty on the batter and then top with more batter to cover the patty. Bake for about 35 minutes.

These were very tasty. Brownies, with peppermint patties in the middle. They were the favourites of the three types.

Chocolate Mint 'Vegan' Cupcakes

1 cup (soy) milk (I just used regular milk because I don't really care about the vegan factor)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (I used regular vinegar because it's what I had)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 12 muffin cups. Mix milk and vinegar and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Mix together milk mixture, sugar, oil, vanilla and mint extract. In another bowl mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly mix into wet mixture. Beat well. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.

These were surprisingly good. I was not expecting vegan cupcakes to taste this good. They weren't spectacular exactly but they were pretty tasty. They were the second best of the batch.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

NOTE: I really did not like these cupcakes. Personally I thought they were disgusting and that they tasted like bread. But I took them to young adults and everyone insisted they weren't that bad. So I'm posting the recipe and you can make your own decision, if you want to take the chance. (Personally I'd make the vegan ones again before I'd try these again)

6 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp butter (or margarine)
1/4 cup butter (or margarine), softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup chocolate milk (I would recommend using the bought stuff from the store, that stuff that's artificially thickened, rather than the stuff you make yourself with the chocolate powder or sauce)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (6 ounces) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 12 muffin cups. Melt together cocoa powder and 2 tbsp butter. Cream together sugar and 1/4 cup butter. Stir in melted chocolate mixture. Add eggs, mint extract and chocolate milk. Beat well. Beat in flour and baking soda. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.

For frosting on all of these cupcakes I just used my usual recipe with mint extract rather than vanilla.