Thin Mint Mini Cupcake

About a week or so ago I blogged about how strong I was at resisting the urge to buy Girl Scout cookies. Well, that didn't last long. At a family get together last week I found out that my cousins cute little girl is now a girl scout and was selling cookies. How could I not support her?? So I bought two boxes. You would be proud to know that I didn't eat them all in one night and there is still more than half of each box left! Today I was in the mood to do some baking and decided to try something new so I decided to attempt to make a Thin Mint Mini Cupcake. I crushed up what was left of my Thin Mint cookies and threw them into my favorite chocolate batter, topped it with mint buttercream and dipped them in Chocolate Ganache. Delish, going to take some to my mom later today and I know she is just going to love them.

 

 

 

Thin Mint Cookie Mini Cupcakes
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C shortening
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
2/3 C cold water
2 egg whites
1/3 C sugar
about 14 crushed Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium high for approximately 30 seconds. Add 1/2 C sugar and vanilla. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each yolk. Alternately add flour mixture and water to shortening mixture. Beat on low speed just until combined.

In a large bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add 1/3 C sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into chocolate batter. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide batter into mini cupcake liners.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotating tins halfway through. Remove from tins and let cool completely on wire racks.


Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
6 C Powdered suger
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

Green Food Coloring

Blend butter and sugar together until frosting consistency is reached. Add extracts and blend to combine. Keep in the refrigerator if not using immediately.

Pipe frosting onto mini cupcakes and dip into Chocolate Ganache Glaze.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze
Recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Directions

1.      Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan.
Remove from heat, and add chocolate
and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

 

Thin Mints Fake Out

So I sort of have this weird relationship with chocolate and mint. It all started when I was about 6 or 7 years old. My cousin Brooke and I were enjoying an afternoon together. We were pretty much inseparable. Seriously, we would call eachother up to plan our outfits so that we matched. Anyway, one afternoon we decided we would scoop ourselves up some icecream. In the freezer was a 1/2 gallon of Mint Chocolate Chip Icecream. Yum, sounded tasty to us. We divided out the entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream into 2 bowls, one for each of us. Well, after a few bites we decided we were done.  Our eyes were definitely much bigger than our stomachs. Just as we were about to put our bowls in the sink in walks my Uncle, obviously upset that we are just about to waste an entire 1/2 gallon of icecream. To teach us a lesson, he made us sit and eat our big bowls of ice cream. Lesson learned. Here I am, 24 years old and to this day I still cannot stand the taste of Chocolate Chip Mint icecream, let alone any type of mint icecream. And chocolate-mint treats? Forget it. Not really my favorite. Can't stand Mint Chocolate Brownies. Yes, I know I am missing out. But there are a few exceptions, like the Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. Oh my gosh, those are just a little bit addicting. You get a box and before you know it you have eaten an entire stack. Well Girl Scout Cookie season is fast approaching. I have heard so many people talking about buying Girl Scout cookies soon. Personally I haven't seen any girl scouts out selling any and frankly, I just can't wait for a Girl Scout to come up to my door. Why can't they sell them year round? Or Maybe they do? Or maybe that is what makes them so special, since you can only get them from Girl Scouts during a certain time of year. Well, whatever it is I wanted some thin mint cookies, like now! I found this recipe for Mint Sandwiches out of my Martha Stewart Cookies book. It sounded pretty similar to a Thin Mint cookie so I changed it up a little bit, made it a Thin Mint cookie rather than a sandwich and well....they are pretty much F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

Who needs Girl Scouts?

XOXO,
Whitney


Thin Mints Fake Out
Adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies Cook Book

For the Cookies:
1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C + 2 TBS all purpose flour
1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 large egg

For the Ganache:
1/2 C heavy cream
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp pure peppermint extract

Instructions:
Make Cookies - Whisk together cocoa powder and flour in a bowl. Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg until well blended. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough in half, shape into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm; about an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer dough to a work surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Roll out dough to 1/8" think. Cut out cookies using a 2" round cookie cutter. Bake cookies until firm, approximately 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

Meanwhile, make chocolate ganache to dip cooled cookies in.
In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a boil over medium heat. Add chocolate chips and stir continously until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add peppermint extract. Let cool slightly. Dip cookies into chocolate ganache until completely covered. Place on wire racks set over baking sheets to set for approximately 20 minutes. Refrigerate cookies in airtight container until set, approximately 20-30 minutes. Do not layer cookies on top of eachother or they will stick together.

These would be best made the day before so that they have plenty of time to set and for the ganache to harden.

Do's & Dont's of Dark Chocolate

Do:

Make some homemade Dark Chocolate ice cream in your new icecream machine. It is decadent and delicious.

 Don't:

Think that you love dark chocolate so much that you buy yourself the darkest of dark chocolate that is 90% cocoa. It tastes like chalk. And you will be gagging.

 Do:

Enjoy one square of Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt per day. Besides, a small amount of dark chocolate per day is good for you.

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

XOXO,

Whitney