Verdict - Andes Mint Cupcakes

Andes Mint Cupcakes

Last week's selections were all chosen by my husband, Shane. I'm not at all surprised his top pic was something with chocolate - he's a serious addict. He even makes late night trips to the grocery store to get his fix! Well I don't think he'll be making any trips over the next couple of days, because I just made Andes Mint Cupcakes!

For the first time since starting this blog, one item on a poll got 100% of the votes! I was excited myself - I have been dying to make these! Lolo and I made these before dinner tonight. All in all, they were fairly easy to make, but the recipe I was using was difficult to follow which in my opinion made it more difficult than it needed to be.

My first tip is: don't make your own frosting like I did. Yes, it turned out OK, but store bought cream cheese frosting is better and not as time consuming. That said, here's what you need to make this recipe:

For 24 cupcakes-
Special equipment:
Very important! A squeeze bottle and funnel are essential if you choose to make these with the chocolate mint filling- yes, there's chocolate filling!!!!!

30 unwrapped Andes mints (24 for the cupcakes, the rest are for you to eat while making the cupcakes!)

For the frosting:
1 tub of cream cheese frosting
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring

MAKE THIS FIRST! Trust me, it'll save you time! Mix in the peppermint extract and green food coloring, then place in the fridge until you're ready to frost the cupcakes.

For the cupcake batter:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup sour cream
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
¼ cup water
½ cup buttermilk

Mix all of your wet ingredients first, then pour 1/2 into a bowl with all of the cake mix and mix together until it starts to come together. Then pour in the rest and mix until well combined - a couple of minutes. This batter will be slightly thicker than the usual cake mixes, but that's OK.

Pour the batter into your cupcake foils with a 1/4 measuring cup. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes. Mine took 15. You're good to go when you insert a toothpick or a knife in the center of the cupcake and it comes out clean.

While your cupcakes are cooking, make this filling:

For the chocolate mint filling:

1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
¼ cup powdered sugar

You can make this filling really quickly by melting the chocolate chips and cream in the microwave, in 10 second increments, for 30 seconds. Just stir after each 10 second interval. Then add the peppermint extract and powdered sugar and mix well. You will have a couple of lumps from the powdered sugar, but if you mix everything together really well, you don't really notice them. 

Use the funnel to pour the filling into a squeeze bottle, then once your cupcakes come out of the oven, use it to squirt some of the filling into the center of each cupcake. 

When your cupcakes have finally cooled, frost them, then garnish with an unwrapped Andes mint! Yummo!

Here's how ours turned out:

Enjoy!

C