Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes

Day 3 in Recipe Shoebox's Holiday Baking series brings us these yummy looking cupcakes from Jen!  Come back each day in December for a new holiday goodie recipe!  

When I think of Christmas treats I immediately think of Edy's (Or Dryer's, depending on what side of the country you live on) Peppermint Ice cream. It only comes out this time of year and every season we stock up on the stuff. Unfortunately I can't get that here in France, so with my imported peppermint extract I'll have to come up with other minty treats of my own. OK, actually I didn't come up with this, I got it from yet another grocery check out line magazine. This recipe comes from Pillsbury best holiday desserts and it's probably still in your grocery store right now. They are easy and yummy. In fact, one of my boys gave me a big hug and told me how yummy they were. (And he even ate the whole thing, not just the frosting!)

Click here for printable recipe.

Posted by Jen.

The Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix
water, oil, and eggs called for on the box
1 tsp peppermint extract (I may have used a little more like 1/4 tsp more)
red food coloring
white frosting
red sprinkles or crushed peppermint candies (I didn't have any)

The Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place muffin liners in muffin tin.

Prepare cake batter as directed on box and mix in peppermint extract.
Divide the batter in half and in a separate bowl add red food coloring and mix well.

Spoon a couple Tbsp of red batter into muffin tin, and then top with white batter.

With a sharp knife, swirl the red and white together. (I'm not a very good swirler)

Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean in center of cupcake. Cool and frost. Sprinkle with sprinkles or chopped peppermint candies. If desired you could use spearmint flavoring and green food coloring to do the same thing. I think I need to work on my frosting piping skills. Hmmmm.

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