Mint Chocolate Chips Cakes with Fresh Mint Leaves from My "Herb Garden"

Some people hate mint flavored baked goods/drinks because the minty flavor and scent reminded them of...tooth paste/mouth wash?

How many of you feel this way? I'm curious.

SC is one of them, he absolutely hates mint flavor (when it's not tooth paste/mouthwash/chewing gum/after dinner mints) and always asked me not to bake anything...minty.

I dunno...but I love it, I always order minty stuff from time to time.

I find the flavor, refreshing and cooling, especially love it for summer.



Anyway, I am the one who bakes stuff at home, so I get the final say.

Mint it was.



I used peppermint essence, but to crank it up a notch, I included quite a bit of mint leaves from my tiny and miserable "herb garden". My hands felt all minty after picking these tiny mint leaves. I love it!



Look at those tiny little green spots in the cake...cuter than green food coloring, don't you think?



Recipe

(yields 6 cupcakes)

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp baking soda

- a pinch of salt

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

- 1 tsp peppermint essence

- a few sprigs of mint leaves (you can use less, my plant is not really "healthy" so the leaves are so tiny!)

- about 10 chocolate chips per cake



I did this the absolutely lazy way.

Preheat oven to 180C, pour all ingredients (except chocolate chips) into food processor (since I need to break down the mint leaves into tiny spots anyway), pulse until well mixed and the mint leaves are all broken into tiny spots. Pour into muffin tray lined with paper, add chocolate chips, bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.



Minty fresh!



If I wasn't too lazy I'd make some minted buttercream/cream cheese frosting...but of course I was too lazy.

Maybe next time la.



What other flavors I can mix with mint?