Anyone else obsessed with peppermint flavored foods in the winter?  I guess it’s mostly around the holidays for me, but Chick-fil-A serves their peppermint chocolate chip shake (deliciousness you can slurp through a straw!) during winter so I’m saying it’s a seasonal thang.

I found this recipe posted by Paper & Stitch, and it was like a lightbulb went off.  Red velvet cake and peppermint sounds like a heavenly combo!  Why on earth I hadn’t thought of this combination before, is beyond me.

It’s so easy peasy, you’re going to want to make all your cupcakes like this!  I just used a boxed cake mix (hello, not Martha over here) and canned frosting.  I prepared the cake according to the box instructions, filled the little mason jars about 1/3 full and baked them right in the jars (didn’t know you could do that until I found these cupcakes).  I adjusted the temperature for baking them in glass, but I had to watch them because they weren’t done when I thought they’d be.  I’d start with the normal temperature and just check them.  I also greased the inside of the jars with coconut oil.  Not sure if that was the right thing to do or not, but they turned out fine.

I used a can of cream cheese frosting and added 1-2 tsp of peppermint extract, along with some pulverized candy canes (mostly just tiny bits and the candy cane dust).  Then, I used some of the bigger candy pieces to sprinkle on top.

I was so happy with how they cute they turned out!  And they were delicious too!

This makes about 22-24 cupcakes.  I used approx 2 cans of frosting for the whole batch.