St. Patrick's Day Nutella filled Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

It's almost St.Patrick's Day which means it's time for drinking to oblivion, getting rich through leprechauns, and all things green!  I thought a lot about what I'd want flavour of green cupcake I wanted to make and had a long debate between Green Tea and Mint. In the end, Mint won because obviously, it is the most delicious! Especially with Chocolate. 

Here's how to make Nutella Filled Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes: 

Ingredients for the Cupcake Base: 

- 1/2 cup of Butter, softened

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1 cup Flour

- 1 an Egg

- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

- 1/4 cup of Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
- A small small pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup of Sugar

Ingredients for the Cupcake Frosting
- 1 cup of Butter
- 4 cups of Confectionary Sugar
- 1 tsp of Vanilla
- Few drops of Mint/Peppermint Extract
- 4 tbs Whipping Cream (I couldn't find anything but Nutriwhip so I had to improvise a little bit- if you don't know how much Whipping Cream/Nutriwhip you should put, try the frosting - if you've ever tasted cupcake frosting, it'll be obvious to you)

Instructions for the cupcake base: 


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Beat together the Butter and the Sugar until fluffy.
3. In a different bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and the salt.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture, but alternate between the dry ingredients and the milk - pour half the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture, then the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients.
5. Pour the mixture into the muffin cups - fill the muffin cups 3/4 of the way.
6. Shove into oven and bake for around 15 minutes.
7. Let cool 2 minutes and fill a decorating bag with Nutella - poke a hole into the top of the cupcake and squeeze the Nutella in.
8. Let cool some more. 

Instructions for Cupcake frosting: 

1. Beat together Butter and Sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the Vanilla and Mint/Peppermint Extract.
3. Add the whipping cream (you can add it a little bit at a time if you're worried about the consistency of the frosting)
4. Fill a decorating bag with your delicious frosting.
5. Make a swirl and start decorating! Add some chocolat chips for extra deliciousness!

Nutella Drizzled Cheesecake

I have a love for Nutella. Okay, “love” might not be the right word. I’m obsessed with Nutella.

Here’s how to make Nutella Drizzled Cheesecake:
(Note: this recipe only makes 2 muffin sized cheesecakes. I’ve always wondered why every recipe I’ve read makes like, some ridiculous number like – 24 muffin sized cheesecakes. Am I really going to eat 24 cheesecakes? I don’t think so.)

INGREDIENTS

For the Cheesecake Crust:4 Graham Cracker (Break ‘em into crumbs)
2 tablespoons of Butter
1/4 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sugar

For the Cheesecake:
8 ounces of cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 large egg
26.5ml heavy cream

For the topping:
1 Ziplock bag
Nutella

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 muffin cups wit paper liners. Instead of using a regular muffin pan, I used a silicone muffin pan so i could push the Cheesecake out later from the bottom without it screwing up.

Mix together all the ingredients for the cheesecake crust, and line the muffin cup bottom with it. Your ingredients should look something like wet sand. If it doesn’t, you forgot something – probably the butter. Bake for 5 minutes, and let it cool.

Reduce oven to 300 Degrees F.

Beat the cream cheese until it’s smooth – I have an electric mixer, but you can easily do it with a spoon. Mix in all the rest of cheesecake filling ingredients one at a time. Make sure everything is well incorporated, and spoon the mixture into the muffin pan on top of the cheesecake crust. Shove it into the oven for 20-25minutes. Let it cool, and then transfer it to the fridge. The best cheesecakes are the ones that are left overnight, but if you’re impatient like me, 4 hours is just as good.

For the topping, if you have one of those cone-shaped things that squeeze out icing, then that’s fantastic. If not, you can be ghetto like me, take a Ziplock bag, and cut a small hole in the corner. I got the idea from @alyssa_george who is by far, the best baker/graphic designer out there. Shove some Nutella in the Ziplock bag, and squeeze it towards that corner. Before you decorate your cake, make sure you test out how much Nutella comes out of the hole you snipped. Don’t stress too much about how your design will look – just let the Nutella flow!