What I'm Cooking Wednesday: Shamrock Cupcakes

(This is reposted from In My Twenties. I mentioned that I made these the other day, and I thought they turned out pretty good, so I thought I'd share them here, too).

I love Shamrock Shakes! They are one of my favorite things about the month of March. Lately the idea of turning a Shamrock Shake into a cupcake has been haunting me, so I finally tried my hand at it. I give you...


They are so, so easy to make! I could have slaved away making homemade cupcakes from scratch, but why? Especially after a long day at work...

So I used a cake mix that I bought at the grocery store (I made two batches: one white and one chocolate). But I added a little something extra to the batter:

Crushed Andes Mints (about 1 1/2 cups per batch of 24)

For the icing I used a buttercream frosting and added about a half teaspoon of peppermint extract. Admittedly, it did not turn out to be the right texture or consistency. But it was nearing 9:00 PM when I finished the frosting, and I was not about to mess around with it! It tasted fine, so after piping it on 2 or 3 cookies, I realized it was not going to cooperate. So I simply slathered it on the rest of it on the cupcakes with a knife. I thought they still looked cute :-)

I topped each one off with an Andes Mint and chocolate sprinkles. I thought they looked nice and festive!

And a select few have a surprise inside...

They're green! Told ya they were festive ;-) The perfect St. Patty's Day treat!

These were good and so simple to make! Next time I will work a little harder on making the frosting perfect, but I just didn't have it in me when I made them.

The best part is that they double as cute St. Pattrick's Day decor on the cake stand in my kitchen :-) I don't usually decorate for this holiday, but decorating with food is the perfect little touch.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

~Jessica~