York Peppermint Patty Cupcakes

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York Peppermint Patties. I love them. They're my road trip snack that I break the rules for. And now they're inside a delicious cupcake. Move over, Reeses-filled cupcakes! Get a life, chocolate-mousse filled cupcakes. Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes, hit the road... Seriously. These are my new favorite :)

Total time: 1 hour

Yield: 22-24 Cupcakes
Ingredients:

• 1 box Devil's Food Cake
• 1 can La Croix
• 1 bag York Peppermint Patties (size small, about 20-24 of them)
• 1/2 Tub Cool Whip (standard size)
• 1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract (Not mint)
• Green Food Coloring

Cooking Directions:

1. Prehead oven to 350.
2. Combine cake mix and La Croix (or 8oz Sparking Water) and mix well.
3. Spoon into paper-lined cupcake tins until 2/3 full.
4. Unwrap peppermint patties and add on top of each cupcake.
5. Bake for 18-22 minutes (following package directions).
6. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
7. In a separate bowl, combine cool whip, peppermint extract, and a conservative amount of green food coloring (we're not making green eggs and ham, people). You can slowly add more coloring if you'd like. I used Wilton's icing coloring.
8. Add peppermint to taste.
9. Once well mixed, use a knife or piping bag to pipe/spread icing onto cupcakes. The peppermint patty will have deflated somewhat, so be sure to fill in the leftover crater with mint icing before making it pretty!

Frozen Banana (Low Cal) Ice Cream

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Ice cream is such a comfort food. I mean, how many foods do you not need your teeth to consume? Okay, soup. That’s a comfort food too. Checkmate.

That said, ice cream slipped my mind for a while – a few years, even – until Oprah (that darn Oprah!) became a proclaimed fan of my family’s favorite ice cream joint, Graeter’s, from Westerville, Ohio (what’s up, Ohio). Our local grocery promptly ordered what appears to be a never ending supply of Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter something-or-other (can you tell I prefer the former?) because what Oprah says, we do… and because Oprah is the President of the United States. Wait, she’s not? Crap.

Moving on. This Oprah ice cream craze has my mind yet again on ice cream. As with any good thing in life, the gears in my head got working and I had visions of Do It Yourself and Make It Healthy (my two most frequent visions, other than Turn It Into Gold, which hasn’t been working out exactly as planned).

In all honesty, I’ve always been a skeptic of the frozen banana ice cream concept. I imagined the flavor would be lacking and the consistency would run like eggs sunny side up.  I’m also not a huge fan of banana-flavored things (other than cupcakes, of course, and only when they also contain nuts or chocolate, of which the following recipe contains both).  But in the name of Oprah, I vowed to make it happen! And alas (like that old school verbage?)-- this ice cream is reminiscent of Chunky Monkey but is… wait for it… healthy. Healthy Ice Cream. Ah, Mrs. President, I hope you are proud of me!

Ingredients:

2 Bananas

¼ cup bittersweet chocolate chips

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts)

Optional: 1 tablespoon nutella

Directions:

Cut bananas into small slices and freeze for 2+ hours.

Remove bananas from freezer and blend with vanilla in a blender.

Add chocolate chips and nuts.

Slowly swirl in nutella.