12 Treats of Christmas: Peppermint Cupcakes

Christmas time is HERE!! Everything about this time of year makes me happy and puts me in the Christmas spirit: the smell of pine trees, the colors of red and green everywhere you look, and Christmas lights blanketing every street, house and tree! But probably most of all, it's the sweet taste and smell of all the warm holiday treats that materialize out of every kitchen, including mine. I started this blog in January of last year and so we have not yet had a taste of the holidays here at the Chocolate Cookie. (I've also been slacking a lot the last few months on posting recipes.) So it's time to seriously bring on the sweets, and finish out the year with 12 Treats of Christmas!  

With everyone warming people up with their peppermint coffees and other peppermint goodies this time of year, I figured this would be a good time to do some more cupcakes. So I made a chocolate cupcake, with chocolate peppermint ganache and peppermint swirl buttercream.

This cupcake was one of my favorites, so yummy! The cake came out nice and moist as always and the buttercream not too sweet. The only thing I might change next time would be to use a higher quality, bittersweet, 60-70% cacao chocolate in the ganache. I didn't have any on-hand so I used regular semi sweet (54% cacao) baking chocolate. Ghirardelli bittersweet would be a better choice and would give more depth and sweetness to the ganache. 

I made a half batch of these Christmasy treats and I already want more. The half batch made 9 cupcakes, but the liners I used are slightly larger than a standard cupcake liner. Check out the ones I used   Below is the full recipe which should make 18-24 cupcakes depending on liners and how you fill them. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes with Chocolate-Peppermint Ganache Filling

For the ganache (make & chill ahead of time):

• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate (60-70% cacao), chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

 1. Heat the whipping cream and butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat until it comes just to a boil and the butter is melted. Keep an eye on it as the milk could scald or boil out of the pan. Remove from heat, stir to blend in the butter and pour over the chocolate. Let sit until all the chocolate is melted and stir until smooth. Add peppermint extract, stir.

2. Let cool completely and refrigerate until thick; about 2-3 hours.

**Shortcut**(Not thinking, I made the ganache while the cupcakes were baking and really wanted a shortcut. I tried one and it worked out okay: I let the chocolate mixture cool completely and then put it in the freezer (forgot about it) and it thickened. Then I let sit at room temperature and soften that way. Once it was soft enough, I put it in the mixer and whipped it until stiff peaks formed and it was ready to go. Work quickly though because it will stiffen again if you let it sit and you will have to re-whip it. Don't over-whip as it could curdle a bit.)

3. Move to a mixer and whip until stiff peaks form. Put in a piping bag and inject into the center of cupcakes,being careful not to fill too much, as you will "burst" open your cupcakes. (Still yummy though...)

For the cake:

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 & 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 & 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (make sure to shake it)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line your cupcake pan with liners

2. In a mixer or large bowl, cream together the sugar and oil until well-incorporated. Add eggs one and a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla and beat for about a minute longer on medium.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, soda, baking powder and salt. Add to butter/egg mixture gradually, on low speed, alternating with adding the milk until just incorporated. Its usually good to start with the dry mixture and end with the dry mixture. Don't over-mix.

4. Fill liners about 1/2 to 2/3 full with batter. Bake in center of oven for about 15-16 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out with a moist crumb, but not wet. Remove from pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting:

• 1 cup, (2 sticks) butter softened/room temp (don't let over-soften)
• 2.5-3.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• candy canes! (I used the mini, individually wrapped ones, much easier to unwrap them all) 
• red or pink food color

1. Freeze candy canes in the freezer for a couple hours. This makes crushing them a little easier. 

2. Whip softened butter in mixer until smooth and creamy.  Add in powdered sugar a little at a time, on med-low speed until all is incorporated. (You can add 2.5 cups or up to 3.5 cups, depending on how thick and sweet you want the frosting to be. But 2.5 cups should make enough frosting to frost all the cupcakes. Add more if needed.)

3. Once all the sugar is incorporated, blend in the extract. Raise the speed to med-high and beat frosting until it becomes light and fluffy and stiff peaks form, scraping sides of bowl often.

4. Crush the candy canes in a food processor or you could use a mallet or rolling pin to crush them in a bag. Just have fun! :) I probably used 20-ish mini candy canes. IMPORTANT: Once crushed to a mostly fine "gravel" sift out any large pieces that will clog your piping tip. I did not think about this....and it when miserably bad for the last couple cupcakes :-) Even using a large star tip!

5. To make the swirled frosting:

A. Take about half of the still-white frosting, and with a spatula, put in the piping bag on one side, sort of pressing it flat against the "wall" of the bag and making room on the other side. (A larger size bag is recommended for this.)

B. Add food coloring (if desired) to the other half of frosting in the mixing bowl. Add crushed candy cane, to your liking and stir together. Scoop this peppermint-y half of frosting into the other side of the bag. Push the frosting down toward the tip and pipe a little frosting onto a piece of waxed paper or a plate until both colors start to come out together and make a "swirl"

6. Frost your cupcakes and decorate as plain or Christmasy as you like! I used red jimmies/sprinkles with cute little white candy cane shapes, and topped with bigger chunks of candy cane.

Have fun!!

Photos by The Chocolate Cookie