Junior Jr. Mint Cupcakes- Inspired by The Busty Baker

I’ve become a little obsessed with food blogs, and mostly baking blogs since I started my 60 day intense workout regime.  In order to have the proper fuel for my body to get through those workouts, I need to eat clean.  Which means no processed food, no refined sugar or white flour; basically no junk.  So I look and drool all over the baking recipes and incredible photographs of the food I’m not eating.

I’ve been following @bustybaker on Twitter for a little while now, (mostly because her avatar looked delicious) and when I checked out her awesome blog, I had to find the source of the avatar…Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes. 

This was one recipe I had to make; so I adapted it to fit within my daily calorie allowance, and the sweet tooth that’s not going away.  I can trick it with some fat free, no sugar added 60 calorie Chocolate Jell-O pudding, but that only goes so far.

I have these great mini silicone cupcake cups which make bite-size cupcakes.  I figured I could freeze most of the mini cupcakes, and keep some for some bite-size sweetness.

 

I also remembered that the last time I made mini cupcakes using a regular cupcake recipe, I ran out of mini cupcakes, made 12 regular cupcakes, and a mini loaf pan.  That would just be bad news on my “eat clean” routine.

So, I cheated. I picked up a Dr. Oetker’s Shaker cupcakes; which only make 6 regular size cupcakes, so I wouldn’t have a boat-load of batter.  The nutritional information was actually better than regular boxed cake-mix, and better than a homemade cupcake batter with butter, sugar and all the good stuff.

Plus, these are fun to make. Add milk to the container and shake-shake-shake your booty around the kitchen and in 2 minutes, you’ve got rich, velvety chocolate batter.

 

I poured a small amount of batter in each cup, then added one tiny Jr. Mint.  The Busty Baker’s recipe uses York Peppermint Patties, but of course, they wouldn’t fit in the mini cupcake cups.

And besides, "Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint -- it's delicious!" (sorry, I couldn’t resist the famous Kramer quote).

I added more batter on top, and set them into the oven to bake.  It took about 18 minutes to bake under a watchful eye.

 

 

 

They looked simply perfect! I couldn’t wait to taste and see how the Jr. Mint held up in the middle.

I wasn’t sure if it would hold it’s shape like the peppermint patty did.

 

 

You can see where the Jr. Mint melted in the middle; it’s a little more glossy than the cupcake. The peppermint didn’t keep it’s shape, but it melted and oozed throughout the entire cupcake and it was delicious!

It’s the perfect little bite-size chocolate-mint treat.  I made 24 mini-cupcakes, and a quick guesstimate at the calorie count, considering the cupcake batter and the Jr. Mint, this is a mere 40-calorie treat.  The cupcake batter has zero trans fat and is probiotic.

While certainly not a health food, it’s a portion controlled way to satisfy my sweet tooth, without derailing my eating plan.

Happy Wednesday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: Jr. Mint,baking,recipes,cupcakes,mini cupcakes,The Busty Baker,chocolate,mint,A Paper Buffet

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Birthday, birthday and more birthday cards!

Ok, so I intended to make about 12, but only 3 birthday cards are making it to this post for two reasons, 1)  I don’t want to be posting at midnight and 2) I’m stuck!

I meant to sit down yesterday and make a truckload of cards, for some offline orders I have for my “Oh Shoot Card Kits” but I just wasn’t feeling it.  I felt a tickle in my throat and decided to rest, I cannot afford to get sick this week!

I ran my errands this morning and was inspired by a trip to Staples! of all places, isn’t it crazy? Unfortunately, that inspiration stopped as soon as I got home and now I’m stuck again.

I will share with you what I did manage to create today and maybe after a little break (to do laundry, very uninspiring if you ask me), I’ll have some more creative juices flowing.

Up first is my Dad’s birthday card, a belated one at that.  I was holding off on sending it because I had to go to Sears to get a gift card.  My Dad is very hard to shop for, but my Mom said he’s planning on buying a new riding lawn mower this spring, so the gift card is to be used towards that.

I printed a picture of  a tractor on cardstock and cut it out, mounted it on dimensionals and used my favourite grass paper for some dimension. 

Next is a card for Taylor’s Cupcake Challenge over at Taylored Expressions. I finally inked up SU’s Fifth Avenue, which I adore and created this card.  Be warned! there is LOTS of pink in this one!

I used my MS border punch, some new Bazzil pink paper (my Michaels finally started carrying some good paper packs, this is from the Tropical pack, I couldn’t pass it up on a sunny Sunday like today).  I stamped the Rose in Purely Pomegranate, and coloured with Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink and then Purely Pomegranate.  I didn’t let the inks dry in between coats because I wanted it to look like a real flower, the shading is never even or perfect.  I cut out the rose and mounted it on dimensionals.  A few dew drops added some balance to the top, it was looking a bit empty to me.

And the last one I made using the Basic Grey paper I picked up today at Michaels, it’s called Euphoria and reminds me of fireworks on Canada Day.

The cupcake is from Inkadinkado and the inside reads “celebrate one cupcake at a time” from SU.  In hindsight I think I should’ve rounded the corners on the cupcake or used the ticket punch, it’s looking a little unfinished.  I may try to fix it if I can.

Hope your Sunday is going well, I’m hoping I’ll have a few more ideas and get a TTIC Bella’s Birthday card made, it’ll be Tuesday before you know it and I don’t want to be 2 challenges behind!

Have a great Sunday!

Ciao for now,

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Taylored Expression Challenge #51

This morning I was making blueberry muffins and was trying to decide if I should use muffin papers or not...and then suddenly I was hit with inspiration for my card for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge today! isn't it funny how that happens?

I didn't use the muffin paper for the muffins, but I did use it on my card. I wanted to make a paper cupcake good enough to eat. It took a few tries, but I think I got it. I used Inkadinkado's Birthday cupcake set, a stamp set I bought just because of one of the sentiments, "Hi Cupcake!" I just love it :)

I picked some American Craft paper and ribbon and set to work. I stamped the image twice, cut one out and mounted it on double dimensionals, to add some height. I cut the muffin paper to the size of the stamped image and glued it. To make the frosting, I tried first using the MS Glitter Glue, but when it dried, it didn't have the right look. So I used Liquid Pearl instead, and covered it with MS Crystal fine white glitter. I waited until that dried and then used the MS Glitter Glue to add cupcake sprinkles, and coloured them with MS Tourmaline and Turquoise glitter. I used my Big Bite Cropodile to punch holes in the ribbon and added some rhinestone brads. The sentiment was inked with Dew Drop Pearlescent Orchid ink directly on the patterned paper.

Thanks for looking, and check out Taylor's challenge here.

Ciao for now,
S.

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