Peppermint Cupcakes

Hello and Welcome to Adventures In Baking!  Can you believe we're closing in on the end of 2012?  Where has this year gone?  I'm still in holiday baking overdrive and couldn't wait to try to make Peppermint Cupcakes.  I'm not using any specific recipe this week and I'm using a box mix.  I thought that would be safer, Lol!  I absolutely love the smell of peppermint.  The Peppermint Chunkies cookies I made in January 2012 that really started this whole adventure are still one of my favorite items I made all year.  In fact, now that the Peppermint baking chips are out in the stores I'm stocking up so I can made them year round if I want to.  Who doesn't want a little hint of winter when it's August and 110 degrees outside? 

The ingredients.  Betty Crocker white cake mix and frosting.  Yes, I did.

Let's get started.  Follow the instructions on the box and mix the batter. 

Next step.  Separate one cup of batter and add peppermint extract and red food coloring.  I added a lot of peppermint.  A lot.  I didn't measure it, I just opened the spout and poured.  I really wanted the peppermint flavor to come through.  I also added a ton of red food coloring.  It takes quite a bit to get past the pink stages and into red but I finally made it to a shade I was happy with.

Final step.  Fill the paper baking cups half full with batter.  Then add a tablespoon of red batter and top it with another tablespoon of original batter.  This gives the cupcakes a cool marbled look once you take a bite.  Bake.

Frosting.  I added more peppermint extract to the white frosting.  You know, just in case there wasn't enough in the cupcakes.  And I topped them off with a sprinkling of Andes Peppermint baking chips from one of the bags I'm hoarding.

Taste test.   Love.  Love.  Love.  Were you afraid I'd added too much peppermint extract?  Yeah, me too.  But I really don't think there's any such thing.  My taste testers snarfed these and asked for more.  You need to make these.  You're welcome.

Enjoy!
-Teddra