Cupcakes

So I've had sugar cravings. They started a few weeks (okay maybe longer) before Elena's birth and just haven't gone away. When I realized that the arrival of my sister to Stuttgart was near I decided to bake something (sweet) for her. I searched around and finally found the perfect treat, Chocolate Mint Cupcakes. The author of the recipe (www.simplyrecipes.com) says, "It's sort of like a thin mint, reincarnated as a cupcake". She had me at thin mint.

I won't go into too much detail about the stress I went through in order to make these cupcakes. It will suffice to say that Germans apparently don't use mint extract. But finally I had the ingredients, made the cupcakes, and took my first tentative bite.

The cupcakes were good... really good... but...

I like chocolate cake mix turned into cupcakes. I really do. And although I think that these cupcakes were marginally better than the "from the box" version, they were also a whole lot more work. So unless you're the type who enjoys melting things together, using multiple pots, and spending hours looking for mint extract in countless German grocery stores, I would suggest buying a chocolate cake mix, adding some peppermint extract to the batter, and biting into a little taste of heaven.

Note: As I mentioned above, my sister (Sheila) is now visiting. Nate's sister (Sara) comes to town on Saturday, and we leave for Budapest on Tuesday. I'll try to blog about the trip when we return.