Thin Mint Cupcakes!

Yep, you heard me right.

For those of you hoping to gain another pound (or seven) in this season's 

Girl Scout Cookie binge - 

have I got a recipe for you!!

These minty little fellows are moist and rich 

and the perfect remedy for any chocolate addict (me.)

Let's get to work.

Okay, for the cake you'll need

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup PLUS 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
6 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk {NOT skim}
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

(P.S. this recipe makes a dozen, so you might want to double it...)

Preheat your oven to 350

and prep your cupcake pans

In a large bowl, sift together 

sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add egg, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. 

Stir in boiling water. Your batter will be thin -  something like this:

now pour it into your prepared pan

and bake for 20-25 minutes.

While they are cooling get started on your buttercream:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp mint extract
Pinch of salt
Green food coloring

Cream your butter until it's light and fluffy

then sift in the powdered sugar

after it's incorporated, add in salt and food coloring until you get the color you're looking for

Now you want to scoop out the middle of your cooled cupcakes.

and then fill them with the mint buttercream

(Place in a pastry bag with a large tip - or an oversized Ziploc and snip the corner)

I made sure to spread my frosting so it was flat on the top for dipping in the ganache. Yum!

for the ganache

you can follow this recipe

or you can take the lazy man's route (like me) and melt up a bag of 

these bad boys

I've never seen them before, but if you can find them, they work perfectly.

(and they're already mint flavored!)

dunk each smoothed out cupcake into your chocolate

then decorate and allow the chocolate to harden

and voila!

The Thin Mint Cupcake!

A perfect St. Patty's treat!

What do you think? Will YOU be trying these?