When I ran across this cupcake recipe during my daily blog reading, I knew immediately that I had to make them for our friend's birthday. He loves the mint/chocolate combination and I knew these would hit the spot. Besides, I already had devil's food cupcakes in the freezer left over from these cupcakes.
The crushed Andes mints add plenty of mint flavor to the buttercream, so I didn't feel the need to add mint extract. I added a couple of drops of green food dye to make the mint color that is reminiscent of mint chocolate chip ice cream, but for some reason, it doesn't really show up in my photo. My food photography skills are definitely not up to par with my kitchen skills, but I'm slowly learning.
For the chocolate cupcakes, I used this recipe.

Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream
from Bakers Royale

1 C. butter, softened
4 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 T. whipping cream
1/3 C. crushed Andes mints

Makes 3 cups.