Nope, I couldn’t just buy some St. Patty’s Day cupcakes from Vons. Nope. Not me. Oh, no, I had another murder to perform on two feathered creatures, at once, with a mint chocolate chip cupcake. Welcome to St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes by way of my “Bake-It” List.

I’m a part-Irish. I’m a mutt & I don’t know the measurements for my genealogical recipe, but I’m Irish, English, American Indian & German.  How’s that for having alcoholism run through your veins???  Yeah, so, bottoms up on the Irish Car Bomb, (my fave dessert drink!)

Here is the recipe I used from 500 Cupcakes.  I’m not sure what happened.  I had to make the cupcakes 2 days ago & then was going to frost them today before the St. Patrick’s Day party.  I stored them in an airtight container, as instructed, but when I took them out today, they seemed kind of “sticky” & when I went to frost them, they crumbled.  The frosting seemed too thick & I should have trusted my instincts and thinned it out, but didn’t.  The cupcakes without the frosting were nice, very subtle mint, but with the frosting, the mint was overwhelming & much too minty.

Lucky for the party-goers I had made them for, they will not have to suffer these day glo-green cupcakes because we had something come up last minute & cannot attend the party.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes (18)

Ingredients:
cupcakes ~
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 C. superfine “bakers” sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted sweet butter, softened
4 eggs – room temp
1 tsp mint extract
1/2 C. (3 1/2 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

frosting ~
1/2 C. (2/3 stick) unsalted sweet butter, softened
2 C. confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tsp. mint (or peppermint) extract
Green food coloring
1/2 C. (3 1/2 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
Heat oven to 325* and line 18 cupcake tins with paper liners.  Sift together the flour, cocoa & baking powder.  Set aside.  In your standing mixer, beat the sugar and the butter together until nice and blended, then add the eggs one at a time.  (*THIS BAKER’S NOTE: I was a dunce and forgot to let the eggs stand at room temp before adding them & perhaps that’s why my cupcakes fell flat 😦 Bummer.)  Anyway … Add the flour mixture gradually, spooning it in on a #2 speed.  Make sure it’s good and mixed together & then STIR in (yes, on your stir setting if you don’t want to do it by hand,) the mint extract & the chocolate chips.  Spoon the mixture into the cups.  Bake for 20 minutes, check & make sure the toothpick comes out clean.  If not, put back in oven for 2-3 more minutes.   Let cool in the pan for 5 mins then move them to a rack until completely cooled.  Then frost, (and you can make these ahead a couple of days and wait to frost them, of course.)

My bestie (a lover of all things that contain the word cake,) said that she would eat them.  Ha.  Love her 🙂