Hearts in My Oven: Snowy Hilltops Christmas Cupcakes

Yay, it`s time for some holiday desserts! I hope you love these as much as I do. :)

Shelly from Cookies & Cups and Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen have teamed up to have a Creative Holiday Recipe contest. I love reading both their blogs so when I saw their contest, I was like, WHY NOT?!

Every year, I always give a little treat to all of my friends before Winter Break. When I was in high school, I gave candy. Then my sophomore year my roommate, S, and I decided to bake cookies to all of our friends. Last year, I baked brownie wreaths. This year, I had some ideas bookmarked for what I was going to bake.

BUT then, I saw this contest last week. I told myself I should challenge myself to see if I could come up with something creative on my own and give it out to everyone.

Hence, these cute cupcakes were born. All my friends loveee chocolate, so I couldn`t go wrong with chocolate cupcakes.

I flipped the cupcakes upside down so that you can see the mint ganache dripping down the sides, but you can totally just do it right side up too. That`ll actually look more like a hill (the cupcake on the left in the first picture is an example of this.)

To make it easier, I used a box mix for the cupcakes and added some mini chocolate chips to make it more fun. Hehe~

If the pictures aren`t enough to make you like these cupcakes, here are 3 testimonies from my friends:

A: "That cupcake. My god. THANK YOU."
S: "Lynna, these are so cute!! OMG. They`re just SO CUTE!!"
A.T: "Lynna, the cupcake was really good. I really liked the mint!"

You can also use the JetPuffed mallow bits to make snowmen to place on top of the "hills", too. I did that, but didn`t take any pictures of them. Just use a little ganache to make the marshmallows stick on top of other. :)

I am entering this Snowy Hilltops Christmas Cupcakes in the Creative Holiday Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups!

Snowy Hilltops Christmas Cupcakes

Hearts In My Oven ♥

Yields: ~ 16 cupcakes

Level: Easy

Total Time: ~ 1 hour 45 minutes

(Print Recipe)

Materials Needed:

- parchment paper

- 1-2 cupcake pan (s)

- 2 cooling racks

- 1 sandwich bag/piping bag

- 1 scissors

- 1 tall cup

- 1 fine mesh sieve

- cooking spray/oil

- 1 small microwave safe bowl

- 1 wooden spoon

- 1 rubber spatula

- 1 sheet paper

- marker/pen

- 1 paring knife

- 1 spoon

- cupcake liners (Christmas themed ones)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cupcakes:*

§ 1 chocolate cake mix box (I used Pillsbury Devil's Food Cake)

§ ingredients for the cake mix: typically water, oil, & eggs

§ 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

§ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Mint Ganache:

§ 1/2 cup heavy cream

§ 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

§ 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

§ 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

§ 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Christmas Trees:

§ about 1 cup green candy melts

§ Christmas themed sprinkles/nonpareils

Decorations:

§ about 1/4 cup powdered sugar

§ Jetpuffed Mallow bits

Directions:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven.

2. Spray/butter your cupcake pan(s).

3. Make and bake your chocolate cake according to box's directions. Alternatively, you can use your own chocolate cake recipe.

4. While cake is baking, start making your Christmas trees. (Pay attention to the timer, the trees may take you longer to complete than it takes to bake the cupcakes.)

5. Once cupcakes are done, remove pan from oven and cool on a cooling rack.

Christmas Trees:

6. On a sheet of paper, draw out several Christmas trees. This is guidance for you to trace the trees with the candy melts.

7. Place the paper underneath a layer or parchment paper. Set aside for now.

8. Put the sandwich/piping bag inside the tall cup and fold the ends over the sides of the cups.

9. In a small bowl, melt the green candy melts in the microwave. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave for 20 seconds, stir, etc. until candy melts are completely melted.

10. Transfer the melted candy into the sandwich/piping bag.

11. Snip off the tip of the bag--about 1/4 of a centimeter. (Candy melts will be hot, be careful! Allow it to cool slightly if it's too hot to handle.)

12. Pipe out your trees on the parchment paper. Make sure the tree trunks are long enough to poke into the cupcakes and the lines of the trees are not too thin or else trees will break easily.

13. If desired, place a red nonpareil at the tip of each Christmas tree. (Do this right after you finish drawing each tree because candy will harden.)

Chocolate Mint Ganache:

14. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream on medium heat until scorching.

15. Turn off the heat.

16. Add the chocolate chips into the pan.

17. Let it sit for several minutes before stirring it with a wooden spoon.

18. Then, add the corn syrup, butter and peppermint extract and stir to combine.

Decorating:

19. Place a cupcake into a cupcake liner (you can choose to place the cupcake upside down or not).

20. Spoon some ganache on the top - spread it around a little so it drips down the sides of the cupcake.

21. Top with 3 or 4 mallow bits and some sprinkles/nonpareils.

22. Using the paring knife, poke it into the top of the cupcake to make way for the Christmas trees.

23. Insert a Christmas tree into the hole you just made. Transfer to a cooling rack.