Thin Mint Cupcakes

My coworker sold Girl Scout cookies in the office for her daughter's troop. This was truly evil because not only did I buy two boxes (Tagalogs and Thanks a Lots), but sadly I ate them all by myself within two days. I attempted to feel better about this by reasoning that both boxes were only 2800 calories combined.

Cupcake with its inspiration

Only one week after this unfortunate incident, I found myself thinking about Girl Scout cookies again. I didn't want to eat an entire box again by myself, so I decided to turn a box into Girl Scout cupcakes. Out of the kinds I like (I hate Samoas), I thought Thin Mints would be best incorporated into a cupcake. I had an idea to do a chocolate cupcake with a Thin Mint baked into the center and a whipped chocolate mint ganache.

Fortunately, my coworker donated a box of Thin Mints to the greater good (you know, cupcakes for the office), and I was able to make these. I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe from The Cupcake Blog and a chocolate ganache recipe I came up with myself. After preparing the batter, I spooned about a tablespoon into each cupcake liner and then pushed a Thin Mint cookie into it to spread the batter along the bottom of the cup. Then I scooped more batter on top and baked them. Once they were done, I topped them with the whipped ganache and a quarter of a Thin Mint.

Inside of the cupcake, you can sort of see the cookie in the center
That whiskey was not used in the making of these cupcakes

I decided to eat one for quality control purposes. Honestly, I didn't even want to because I'm not a huge fan of neither chocolate nor mint (my alliance is strongly with vanilla), but these ended up being some of my favorite cupcakes I've made in a while. I decided that I like this type of chocolate frosting better than the chocolate buttercream recipe I've been using. I think I'm making the permanent switch to this one.

Whipped Chocolate Mint Ganache Recipe
Frosts 15 cupcakes

Ingredients:
5 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp. mint extract (use vanilla extract for regular chocolate frosting)
2 C sifted powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Heat heavy cream over low heat until bubbles form
2. Pour cream over chocolate, let stand 1 minute
3. Stir chocolate mixture
4. Add mint extract. Let mixture stand 15 minutes to cool
5. After cool, use mixer to slowly add powdered sugar. Beat on high until smooth and lighter in color.