A Thin Mint Cupcake

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes Recipe

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Cupcake recipe is adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe for dark chocolate cupcakes. If you would like to frost the cupcakes, I've included two recipes for a mint-flavored frosting. The butter cream version is quite sweet, the cream cheese version is a little less sweet and has a tang from the cream cheese.

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

• 8 Tbsp (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Optional Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

• 8 Tbsp butter, room temperature (1 stick, 4 ounces)
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Optional Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 Tbps butter, room temperature (1/2 stick, 2 ounces)
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

• Fresh mint for garnish

Method

Cupcakes

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a muffin tin by lining it with cupcake liners. Use a double boiler or add an inch or two of water to a medium sized saucepan and place a metal bowl over it, bringing the water to a simmer. Add butter (cut into chunks), chocolate, cocoa to the bowl. As the butter and chocolate melt, whisk until the ingredients are well combined and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to touch.

2 In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

3 In a large bowl (can use a mixer), beat the eggs. Add the salt, the sugar, the mint extract and beat until well combined. Slowly add in the chocolate butter mixture and beat until combined.

4 Add in half of the sifted flour mixture, mix to combine. Mix in the sour cream. Mix in the remaining flour mixture.

5 Spoon the batter evenly into the lined muffin cups. Place in oven in middle rack. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until tops spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6 Let cool in muffin tin on a rack for 15 minutes. Then gently remove cupcakes from the tin and let cool completely before frosting.

Use frosting of choice, flavored with a little mint extract. Garnish with a little fresh mint. Recipes for simple butter cream or cream cheese frosting follow.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Frosting

1 In an electric mixer, beat the butter (if making buttercream) or butter and cream cheese (if making cream cheese frosting) at medium speed until creamy. Beat in milk (if making buttercream) and mint extract.

2 Slowly add in the powdered sugar on low speed, stopping every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Taste and add more mint extract if it isn't minty enough for you, or powdered sugar if it isn't sweet enough for you.

TASTY & GREAT RECIPE!

Stuffed Peppers with Rosemary Goat Cheese and Maple Glaze

• 8 small sweet peppers, cut in half and seeds removed


• app. 1/3 cup goat cheese


• app. 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped


• 4 slices good bacon


• 1 1/2 tbsp. maple syrup


• 1/4 tsp. paprika


• pinch of cayenne pepper


• 1/2 tsp. water (if needed, depending on consistency of syrup you use)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut each pepper in half, remove seeds, and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Combine goat cheese and rosemary in a small bowl. Fill each pepper half with a bit of the goat cheese mixture. Slice each piece of bacon in half, both lengthwise and across the length (this will give you 4 small pieces of bacon per slice of bacon). Wrap each cheese-filled pepper half with a small piece of bacon. In a small bowl, combine last 4 ingredients. Use a pastry brush to brush each pepper half with equal amounts of the glaze. Bake for 45 minutes and then put under the broiler for a minute or two until nicely browned.

This makes 16 pepper halves. You may want to double or triple recipe for a party.

Risotto is easy if you watch just right - this is a great one

Champagne Risotto with Scallops
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2/3 cup arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
1 cup dry Champagne
1 14 1/2-ounce can (or more) low-salt chicken broth
1/2 pound bay scallops
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions; sauté 1 minute. Add rice; sauté 2 minutes. Add Champagne; simmer until almost all liquid evaporates, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add 1 can broth; simmer until rice is almost tender, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Add scallops; simmer until scallops are cooked through and rice is tender but still firm to bite and mixture is creamy, adding more broth if too thick and stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir in Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

My top three favorite restaurants

1 Kittichai - www.kittichairestaurant.com/
Chocolate ribs are too die for.

2 Periyali - www.periyali.com
The grilled octopus melted in my mouth.

3 Buddakan - www.buddakannyc.com
Everything I ate was great and the service was better than I have ever had.

Sticky chocolate ribs

Ingredients

6 tbsp tomato purée

2 tbsp harissa

2 tbsp grated cacao

2 tbsp sunflower oil

2 tsp honey

1kg pig ribs (8 ribs)

Method

1 Put all the ingredients for coating the ribs into a small pan, with a pinch of salt.

2 Place over a medium heat and stir occasionally until thick and glossy. Leave to cool slightly.

3 Pour the sauce over the ribs and turn the ribs over and over until coated.

4 Cook the ribs over a medium barbecue for 20-30 minutes, depending on their size, turning them frequently and brushing regularly with the sauce.

Gruyere Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Sweet Potato Fries

Prep Time -15 min.
Cook Time -30 min.
Serves 1

INGREDIENTS
2 slices bread (your choice)
5 thin slices Gruyere cheese
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 sweet potato, julienned
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher Salt (optional)

COOKING DIRECTIONS

1. Butter each slice of bread on one side.
2. Place the cheese in the middle of the bread between the two unbuttered sides.
3.Place in a skillet (or a grill pan is even better if available) on medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes on each side.
4.Place julienne sweet potato on a cookie sheet and dash with olive oil. 5.Throw in a teaspoon of kosher salt, if handy.
Place in a 450 degrees F oven for 30 minutes.

Asparagus & Gruyere Pizza/Tart

This is courtesy of Kevin's blog: Closet Cooking. I thought it was so good, I should post it.

This is one of my favorite times of the year! The days are finally starting to get warm and one of my favorite vegetables, asparagus is plentiful. The farmers market has been full of locally grown asparagus for the last few weeks and I have certainly been enjoying it. I always like nice simple dishes that show off the asparagus and this asparagus and gruyere tart has been on my radar for a while now. It is basically just store bought puff pastry, gruyere cheese and asparagus. The tart is baked until the puff pastry is nice and golden brown and the asparagus has been roasted to perfection. Roasting asparagus is one of my favorite ways to cook asparagus as it seems to concentrate the flavour which makes this tart all the better. I did make one quick alteration to the recipes that I was looking at and that was to add a touch honey dijon mustard to give it some more flavour and a bit of bite. The asparagus and gruyere tart turned out great! I used a medium thickness asparagus and it was perfectly roasted at the same time that the puff pastry had turned gold brown. The melted cheese, roasted asparagus and light, flaky, puffy crust was an amazing combination!

Asparagus and Gruyere Tart(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:1 sheet puff pastry (thawed according to the packages directions)
2 tablespoons honey dijon mustard
2 cups gruyere (grated)
1 pound asparagus (cleaned and trimmed)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions:1. Roll the puff pastry out to a 16x10 inch rectangle.2. Score a line around the puff pastry 1 inch from the edge.3. Brush the mustard around the inside of the cut.4. Sprinkle the cheese over the mustard.5. Arrange the asparagus in a single layer over the cheese.6. Season with salt and pepper.7. Brush the outside inch of the pastry with the oil.8. Bake in a preheated 400F oven until the asparagus is tender and the pastry is golden brown, about 15-25 minutes.Similar Recipes:Tomato Tart