Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

Um. I appear to have lost a week. Sorry about that. See, I had finals week. And I had a last minute meeting with the very pregnant teacher I'll be subbing for in January (unless baby comes sooner and I have to sub before Christmas break). And I met with my hairdresser and I'm not blond anymore. And there's some other stuff going on.

So, for the last day of class, my Effective Instruction class decided to mutiny and have a party instead. I brought cupcakes. I can pretty much be counted on to bring cupcakes.

When I was growing up, my dad always had the same birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake. And my mom would get one of those great big peppermint sticks and beat the living daylights out of it. She then would mix the crushed peppermint into the fudgey chocolate frosting in the middle layer and then frost the whole cake with just the chocolate frosting. I was thinking about that cake and decided to see if it would translate into cupcakes. Of course, then I got sidetracked (probably obsessing about my 8 page research paper analyzing my own adolescence for my psych class) and added mint extract. Shoot.

Being that I happen to love marshmallow frosting, I figured I'd try that on top and I already had the smashed up peppermints so I sprinkled them on too. All the while hollering Christmas carols at the top of my lungs.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting
an original Shazamer recipe.

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
2 large eggs
1 cup milk

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the mint extract and then eggs one at a time, making sure each is incorporated.
Alternate adding the flour and the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Beat for 30 seconds.
Fill 18 paper lined muffin cups and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely.

Marshmallow Frosting:
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
6 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
pinch of salt

Cream together all ingredients.

To assemble:
8 crushed peppermints
Frosting
Cupcakes

Spread each cupcake with frosting and sprinkle with crushed peppermints.

Happy Birthday Super G!

29 years ago today I came downstairs in my pajamas for breakfast only to find my Uncle Tom sitting there in the family room. Mom and Dad were no where to be found. That's because Mom went into labor in the early morning and lo and behold produced my sister Super G. And thus began a great big sister, little sister relationship. Super G is brilliant, like seriously a genius and as a kid I may have convinced her all sorts of horrible things just to mess with her. But now I cherish our relationship. We talk almost every day and we laugh, we cry, we fume, and we bake together. I'm really happy that she came into my life.

And she came over for dinner yesterday. See Her and her husband, the Tummy, had to return her stepson, Medium Dude, to his mother in Michigan. So they stopped here and spent the night. Which provided an excellent opportunity for us to celebrate her birthday.

Special occasions call for lamb chops. Medium Dude, who I've heard is a selective eater, even tried one and liked it. This is my favorite lamb chop recipe. It's from the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. This cookbook has a surprising number of tasty recipes that just happen to be a little healthier than might otherwise be if they were to be found in some of those other cookbooks. And these Lamb Chops with Yogurt-Mint Sauce are not only healthy, but they're quick too. And I used a cucumber from my garden too.

I did alter this a teensy bit from the original recipe so I am not going to include the points value. Mostly the thing I changed is that the original recipe calls for 4 (5oz) bone in lamb chops, but I prefer the smaller ones. I think they're more tender.

Lamb Chops with Yogurt-Mint Sauce

from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

8 (3oz) bone in loin lamb chops, about 1 inch thick

3/4 cup plain fat free yogurt

1/2 cucumber, seeded and chopped roughly

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

3 scallions sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

Remove the lamb chops from the refrigerator about 1 hour before cooking. Preheat the broiler.

In a blender or food processor, combine the yogurt, cucumber, mint, scallions, and garlic and puree. Season with the crushed red pepper and 1/4 tsp of salt. Let stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Meanwhile, season the lamb with the remaining 1/4 tsp salt and the black pepper. Place on the broiler rack and broil 3-4 inches from the heat until done to taste, about 5 minutes per side for medium rare. Serve topped with the cucumber mint sauce.

Snow and Ice Cupcakes!

Another month has gone by and that means it's time for another Cupcake Hero event over at Quirky Cupcake! (She's also paired up with Bake and Destroy)! Yay! I have so much fun with these! This month's secret ingredient is mint. That was kind of a toughie because the Brain doesn't like mint and I have to admit I'm a little picky about it.

While I was sitting at work watching the post office. (I have the best seat in town because I know when everyone's at the post office and if I knew who people were I might know some serious gossip. Someday...) I began to think about mint things that I enjoy. I started thinking about peppermint ice cream and its creamy mint flavor. Then I started thinking about those commercials from a long time ago where people bit into a York Peppermint Patty and they got the feeling of skiing naked through the Alps (or something like that). And then I was thinking about all this snow and ice we have on the ground now. And then I started thinking I better get some work done so the Brain doesn't yell at me again.



So I present my Snow and Ice Cupcake. It's a white chocolate mint cupcake with a white chocolate mint buttercream and a peppermint candy brittle piece as garnish. I think the cupcake and frosting really capture the creamy mellow mint flavor I was looking for. Mint can be ridiculously overpowering. The fluffy softness of the frosting makes me think of snow and the peppermint candy brittle has that powerful icy mint flavor. (I have to admit that when I saw the photo of the Peppermint Ice Cream Candyland Cake in December's Bon Appetit, I thought it was really cool and when the secret ingredient was revealed I knew I wanted to make the candy brittle with just peppermint candies.) I found some really cool edible glitter, so I had to sprinkle that on top too. They're so pretty!

I also know that Catholic Charities is getting a dozen of these and the County Recorder's office is getting 6 of them. I have to set them aside because otherwise I might just eat them all for breakfast!



White Chocolate Cupcakes

8 oz. good white chocolate, chopped
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp mint
1 1/4 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 350°. Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler set over barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Leave white chocolate in pot and turn off heat. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk in 3 additions, blending well after each addition. Add warm white chocolate and beat just until blended.

Scoop batter into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. Bake for 15 minutes or until just lightly golden and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on racks.

White Chocolate Mint Buttercream

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
12 oz. unsalted butter (very soft)
1/4 tsp mint extract
2 oz. good white chocolate, melted

Place egg whites, sugar and salt in medium sized heatproof mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk gently and constantly until egg whites hit 140° and sugar is dissolved, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whip by machine until thick and cooled, about 5 minutes. Beat in butter a little at a time and continue beating until buttercream is smooth and spreadable. Add mint extract and continue beating. Slowly add melted white chocolate and beat until incorporated.


Peppermint Candy Brittle
adapted from Bon Appetit

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 Tbsp light corn syrup
about 30 peppermint candies smashed in a Ziploc with a meat tenderizer

Place a large sheet of foil on work surface. Stir sugar, water, and corn syrup in small saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves, brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat and boil without stirring until candy thermometer registers 300°F.

Being very careful, pour syrup slowly onto foil on work surface going up and down the length of the foil so it doesn't spill onto the counter. Using heat proof spatula smooth the syrup into thin. Sprinkle broken peppermints onto syrup. Press the big pieces in without touching the hot syrup. Let cool completely.

When cool break into jagged pieces and stick in frosted cupcakes. This makes way more brittle than needed, but it's pretty good to eat all by itself too.