For St. Patrick's Day, I was asked to make cupcakes by a friend of mine, and she wanted them themed. Not a problem! My first instinct for St. Patrick's Day was my Guinness & Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Cheese Frosting. One thing: the cupcakes were for kids. Hmmm.... What to do. green cupcakes with green frosting! No problem. I googled for almost an hour and kept coming across Green Velvet Cupcakes, but I didn't have nearly enough green food coloring on hand, so I passed. I started to think of what I had on hand that was green. I found a box or two of Pistachio Pudding, and googled a recipe for that. Guess what!
I found one!
The recipe was SUPER easy, and while constructing, I double and triple checked this recipe and noticed it has a LOT of liquids. But my husband assured me it would be fine, because of the pudding. (Just as an aside... My husband is always right!) I made a few modifications:
1.) I didn't have "mini chocolate chips", so I put chocolate chips into my food processor and let it run for a while. This chopped my chips into smaller pieces, worked great!
2.) Halfway through the recipe I realized I didn't have any vegetable oil. (Used it all for frying corndogs for my birthday.) So I did some research: it's possible to substitute canola oil for vegetable oil, no conversions necessary! So I did.
For a while now, I've been wanting to go out of my comfort zone when baking, to try new recipes, or crazy ideas. This is one of them. I have heard of some people who drink hot chocolate with chili powder. I searched and searched and found a recipe that could have chipotle in the cupcake. I eventually found it here. The recipe calls for boxed cake (a part of me died inside!!) and other ingredients. Since I absolutely DO NOT use boxed cakes, I decided to use my own chocolate cupcake recipe. I've always said that I like to add my own twist to a recipe! I wasn't gutsy enough to try the cupcake, but my husband, brother-in-law, and one of my best friends tried the cupcakes and liked them! I added a cinnamon cream cheese frosting to cool the palate after the spiciness. I've told several people about this recipe, and every single person wants to try one! I'll definitely be making this recipe again.
