My favorite Dark Chocolate Mint Cupcake Recipe

Several years ago, I hosted a Chocolate Mint Party in honor of National Chocolate Mint Day, and this is the recipe that I used. I wanted to share it with you because it's my favorite recipe to use when I'm using fresh chopped mint from my garden.

National Chocolate Mint Day is celebrated annually on February 19th, but chocolate mint desserts are enjoyed all throughout the year! What better way to enjoy the flavor of mint than by baking up some sweet chocolate mint cupcakes.

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Dark Chocolate Mint  Cupcakes

• 2 cups walnuts, toasted, cooled
• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

White Chocolate Mint Frosting

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

8 ounces high-quality white chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon green crème de menthe

Preparation

For cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter two 12-cup mini-muffin pans. Using on/off turns, blend first 4 ingredients in processor until walnuts are finely chopped. Whisk flour and baking powder in small bowl. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool slightly.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl until very thick, about 4 minutes. Gradually beat in cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in walnut mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons batter into each prepared muffin cup.

Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Cut around cupcakes to loosen; turn out onto work surface. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.)

White Chocolate Mint Frosting:

Bring cream and butter to simmer in heavy small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate; stir until melted. Mix in crème de menthe. Transfer frosting to bowl; let frosting cool at room temperature until firm enough to pipe, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours.

Spoon frosting into pastry bag fitted with medium star tip. Pipe frosting decoratively atop cupcakes.

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My Closing Thoughts~

• I make these cupcakes in Spring Summer and Fall, when my mint is growing so perfuse all over the place.
• I also like to make these cupcakes at Halloween. The colors just go great on a Halloween decorated table. Once I created a Frankenstein table where all the food and drinks were either black or green. This cupcake was a hit on the table that night.
• I also made this cupcake for a small garden party I went to. All the guests brought something that was made with something from their herb garden.
• Happy Chocolate Mint Day. ~ "Live everyday like a Holiday" Pam

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from wikipedia /article chocolatemint©/and other related pages.  Photo:flickr.com/26396724@N05/  / gone-ta-pott / epicurious.com

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