Thin Mint Cupcakes

These thin mint cupcakes pair perfect chocolate cupcakes with an easy mint buttercream frosting. Top each Girl Scout Cupcake with a cookie for the best chocolate mint dessert.

I’m not going to lie it took me a long time embrace mint anything. I just couldn’t understand why mint was ruining my chocolate. 

But as I grew up so did my palette. Now mint and chocolate is a welcome pairing here. 

So when it’s what I call “Girl Scout” season I always snag a bag of Thin mint cookies. I thought this year why not turn that into a Thin Mint cupcake. Basically chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting. Super easy. Super delicious. And boy oh boy am I glad I did.

How To Make These Girl Scout Cupcakes – Step By Step

These easy chocolate cupcakes are my variation from the perfectly chocolate cake from Hershey’s Kitchens. You could stick to the original recipe, but I love my little twist on them- adding espresso powder. Adding espresso, or strongly brewed coffee to anything chocolate brings out the flavor of the chocolate. 

First things first. Prepare your pans and pre-heat that oven. My Favorite Go To Cupcake Liners Are These. 

This is a  one bowl cupcake recipe that couldn’t get easier. Yes one bowl. I told you this is the only recipe you will ever need. 

In a large bowl you need to combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) and simply whisk to combine.

In the same bowl you then add your wet ingredients- milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, and eggs. And whisk, whisk, whisk again.

Then you need to add in your boiling water. The batter will be thin. 

To fill your cupcake pans, I find it easiest to pour the batter into a liquid measuring cup and pour then into my cupcake pans.

You want to fill these up about 3/4 of the way to leave a bit of room for them to rise and create that beautiful domed cupcake. 

Tips For Making These Thin Mint Cupcakes

• Measure Correctly – Be sure to measure your flour accurately. It’s easy to overmeasure your flour resulting in a dense cupcake. I always give my flour a stir first. Then spoon into my dry measuring cup and then level off. For a full tutorial on how to measure your flour click here.  
• Use Natural Cocoa Powder– Be sure to use natural unsweetened cocoa powder not dutch process. They are not the same. You can read about the differences here between natural and dutch process cocoa powder.
• Rotate Your Pans – When baking these, it’s best to rotate the pans halfway through their baking time. Every oven can have hot spots so they may not bake evenly. Give them a turn in the oven, so they all bake up pretty. This is just one of 15 tips for baking perfect cupcakes every time.
• Cool Completely. Once they are baked, be sure to take them out of the pans and cool on a cooling rack. Leaving them in your pans means they will continue to bake and could end up dry.

How To Make This Mint Buttercream Frosting

This mint buttercream frosting starts with making the BEST vanilla buttercream frosting recipe. <– Click for step by step photos

To turn it into a mint buttercream frosting I used peppermint extract and some green food coloring. 

For step by step photos on making this mint buttercream frosting <– Click here

Related Post: Ultimate Guide To Different Types Of Frosting

How To Frost These Thin Mint Cupcakes 

Once the buttercream was ready and the cupcakes were cooled I used this Wilton 2D tip to frost the cupcakes with.

If you are new to decorating cupcakes, then be sure to check out my Ultimate Guide To Decorating cupcakes.

After I frosted these I topped them with cookie crumbs and a cookie. If you don’t have any thin mint cookies, then you can also use Grasshopper cookies (found year round in the cookie aisle of your grocery store).

How Far In Advance Can I Make These Thin Mint Girl Scout Cupcakes?

You can make the chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting up to 2 days in advance, unfrosted. Just wrap in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature. You can also make the cupcakes and freeze for up to 2 months.

The mint frosting can be made up to a week in advance. Just store in your refrigerator for up to a week. You may need to place them back in your mixer and rewhip back to the same consistency.

If the Thin Mint cupcakes are frosted, it can stay fresh at room temperature for 1 to 2 days, according to Spruce Eats.   

More Chocolate Mint Recipes:

• Mint Oreo Brownies
• Mint Oreo Stuffed Bailey’s Chocolate Cupcakes
• No Churn Mint Oreo Icecream

More Cupcake Recipes To Try:

• My easy  Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
• Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes
• Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes (Small Batch)
• Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

If you like this recipe be sure to leave me a comment and star rating below! 

Thin Mint Cupcakes

These thin mint cupcakes are the best! Perfect chocolate cupcakes with mint buttercream frosting and topped with chocolate mint cookie!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 30 cupcakes

Calories: 145kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• ▢ 2 cups (394 g) granulated white sugar
• ▢ 1-3/4 cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 3/4 cup (63 g) natural Cocoa powder
• ▢ 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 cup (240 mL) milk
• ▢ 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegetable oil
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 cup (240 mL) boiling water

For the frosting (this is a single batch - I always make 3 batches to frost all the cupcakes)

• ▢ 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cup, 283 g) unsalted butter 1 1/4 cups softened to room temperature
• ▢ 2 1/2 cups (283 g) confectioners sugar
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• ▢ green food coloring optional
• ▢ Thin Mint cookies for decoration optional

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare two muffin pans with cupcake liners.
• Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla extract beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. In a measuring cup microwave 1 cup of water (or heat on stovetop). Stir in instant espresso. Add boiling water to batter. Stir to combine. (batter will be thin) to the cake batter. Fill each cupcake well about 3/4 cup full of batter.
• Bake for 22-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, rotating pans halfway through baking. Remove cupcakes from pans and allow to cool on a wire rack. Cool completely. Repeat with the additional cupcake batter (about 6 additional cupcakes)
• For the frosting (note this is for a single batch, I always make 3 batches to frost all these cupcakes. If you like high swirls like I do then you will want to make a triple batch as well) combine the butter and powdered sugar and mix on low, then increase the speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in your vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and heavy cream. Beat on medium-high for 8 minutes.
• With a pastry bag and tip attached, pipe the frosting on each cupcake. Decorate with a cookie. I also crushed up a few cookies and decorated with the cookie crumbs. Store at room temperature for up to 2 days. Refrigerate for up to 3 days, just bring back to room temperature before serving.

Notes

• Be sure to measure your flour accurately. Spoon into your measuring cup and then level off. 
• Be sure to use natural unsweetened cocoa powder not dutch process. They are not the same and will affect the final results.
• When baking these, it's best to rotate the pans halfway through their baking time. Every oven can have hot spots so they may not bake evenly. Give them a turn in the oven, so they all bake up pretty.
• Once they are baked, be sure to take them out of the pans and cool on a cooling rack. Leaving them in your pans means they will continue to bake and could end up dry.
• Nutrition facts do not include thin mint cookie garnish.

Nutrition

Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 57mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 46IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

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