Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Everywhere

I love cupcakes. Here are a few I've tried recently and loved.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

From Real Mom Kitchen & Food Librarian

I saw these cute cupcakes on Real Mom kitchen and made them for St. Patrick's Day. They were so moist and had the perfect amount of mint in my opinion. They are made from scratch but it can all be made in one bowl and were pretty simple.

Ingredients
Makes 18 to 24
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
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 safflower oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 pkg. keebler grasshopper cookies or 1 sleeve girl scout thin mint cookies, crushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard 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, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add crushed cookies. 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. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese
1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation
1. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Increase speed to medium, and slowly add milk and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add food coloring if desired and top with 1/4 cookie.

If you want over the top chocolate try this instead.

Chocolate Buttercream

Prepare Vanilla Buttercream as directed. Microwave 1 cup (6 oz.) dark chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 30-second intervals. Gradually add melted chocolate to Vanilla Buttercream; beat until blended and smooth. Note: For testing purposes only, we used Nestlé Chocolatier Dark Chocolate Morsels.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes with Chunky Oreo Frosting

recipe and picture from Picky Palate

I made these cupcakes a couple of months ago and they were great. A big hit with the kids. I used the white cake mix but they would be great with the yellow also.

Cupcake batter

1 Butter or yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 small package vanilla pudding mix
½ Cup sour cream
½ Cup water
½ Cup vegetable oil
16 oreos, crumbled up
1 Cup chocolate chips

Chunky Oreo Frosting
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
3 Cups powdered sugar
6 oreo cookies, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, beat until all ingredients are well combined, close to 2 minutes. Pour batter into paper lined cupcake cups, about ¾ way full. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center. Let cool.
2. Place cream cheese and butter into mixer and beat until smooth and fluffy. Slowly add in powdered sugar until desired consistency. Stir in oreo cookie crumbles and spread over cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

From good eats.com and Paula Deen

Anne made these for book club on Thursday and I demanded the recipe immeadiately. They are so yummy. The frosting is the best! I am drooling and wishing I had the ingredients right now. You need to make these.

red velvet cupcakes:

makes approx 2 1/2 dozen

3/4 cup butter, softened2 cups sugar, divided3 large eggs, separated3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa2 tsp salt1 2/3 cup whole buttermilk3 tbsp red food coloring1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract-preheat oven to 350. line 30 cups of 3 (12 cup) muffin tins with paper liners-in a large bowl, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. beat in egg yolks until combined-in a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa and salt-in a small bowl, combine buttermilk, food coloring and vanilla-gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture. beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating well after each addition.-in a medium bowl, beat egg whites at medium high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. gently fold beaten egg whites into butter mixture. spoon batter evenly into prepared pans. bake at 18 to 20 minutes, or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. spread or pipe evenly with desired frosting.

white chocolate cream cheese frosting (the yummiest frosting EVER!)

makes approx 4 1/2 cups frosting

1 1/2 cups butter, softened (that's paula for ya, 3 sticks of butter!)

1 8oz cream cheese, softened

2 1oz squares white chocolate, melted and cooled

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

4 1/2-5 cups powdered sugar in a large bowl,

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in white chocolate and lemon juice until combined. gradually beat in confectioner's sugar until smooth.