Vanilla Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes - Sweetie Pie and Cupcakes

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What do you do with all those extra candy canes and peppermints that you have around the house during Christmas time? You make these delicious Vanilla Peppermint Swirled Cupcakes! These are made with my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe, and the addition of the peppermint buttercream icing is a great combination.

First let’s talk about the vanilla cupcake with the peppermint swirl. This is a fun way to add interest, flavor, and color to your cupcakes. I love experimenting with combinations of flavors, and this particular recipe calls for sour cream and vanilla. The sour cream provides a nice tangy taste while the vanilla is an old favorite warm inviting smell that makes the whole house smell delightful. To add the peppermint and the swirl to the cupcake itself, simply save about 2 cups of the batter and add red dye and about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of peppermint oil. Place the batter into a piping bag (or ziplock bag) with the end cut off. Once you have placed your cupcake liners inside your muffin pan and filled your cupcake liners with the original batter, just insert the tip of the bag into the cupcake and pipe the red peppermint batter in as you draw a circle. With remaining icing, draw large circles on top of each batter cup as well.

The butter cream frosting is a very simple recipe that blends together easily and provides a stiff consistency so you can pipe it onto your cupcakes and create flower designs or large swirl designs. I added peppermint oil to the icing for added flavor. The last fun addition is the broken pieces of peppermint candies to the tops of each cupcake! Simply place a handful of candies into a ziplock bag and place on a safe hard surface and then tap lightly with a hammer. Leave a few larger pieces to add different shapes and sizes of the candies to the top of the cupcakes. This is a simple holiday recipe with some creative twists! Have fun with it! Here’s the full recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

Vanilla Cupcakes:

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs , room temperature

2 egg yolks, room temperature

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For Red Batter (to add the swirl in the cupcake)

Red dye

1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint oil

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2½ cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners. Spray the liners with Pam Baking non-stick spray.

2. Blend together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl with a mixer. Add butter, sour cream, eggs and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix completely.

3. Divide out about 2 cups of batter into a separate bowl. Add desired amount of red dye to color the batter red. Add peppermint oil and completely combine. Place this batter into a piping bag and wait to cut the tip off.

4. Divide the rest of the batter evenly among cups of prepared pan; fill the cups about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Cut the tip off of the piping bag and insert the tip into the batter cups and draw a circle as you pipe the red batter. Draw circles on top of each batter cup as well.

5. Place pan in oven on middle rack and bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from pan and let cool; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.

6. For icing, mix the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.

7. While on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla and peppermint oil, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Add icing to a piping bag readied with a Wilton tip 1M. Start on the outside edge of the cupcake and pipe the icing in a swirl until you reach the middle.

8. Crush peppermint candies in a bag and add them to the top of each cupcake!

Makes 1 dozen cupcakes