Roar.
My husband, the monster:
Did you know I was once married to Frankenstein? It’s true! Long before Bella Swan made it fashionable to marry a ghoul, Frankie and I had a one-night stand. I dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein for Halloween and created a stuffed monster “husband” to carry around all night.
In case you’re curious, here’s a photo of us.
Although we didn’t stay married long (irreconcilable differences), I think Frankenstein would approve of the following mint-chocolate cupcake recipe. Whole-grain, and lower in fat and sugar, these are much healthier than your average cupcakes. And yet, they taste just as delicious.
As I said in yesterday’s post, these cupcakes were made for a good friend’s kindergarten class. I so wanted to throw some spinach in them, to see how they’d turn out. But I didn’t have enough time to make a second batch if the experiment failed.
If anyone is feeling adventurous, please do try adding spinach… and let me know how it goes!!
Monster Mint-Chocolate Cupcakes
(Makes 12 cupcakes)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder (regular or dutch)
- 1 cup flour (I used white-whole-wheat. You can use white or even spelt.)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 and 1/2 T cornstarch
- 1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pure peppermint extract (or 1/2 tsp, if you only want a very-slight mint taste)
- 1/2 cup vanilla nondairy yogurt (such as SoDelicious)
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 3 T canola oil
- optional: add a few handfuls chocolate chips to the batter!
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (such as almond milk)
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, then add wet. Don’t overmix. Pour into cupcake liners or tins, and bake for 18-20 minutes. (Mine took 19 minutes.)
Per cupcake: Each cupcake will have around 130 calories and three grams of fat (depending on what yogurt you use).
For a Mint-Chocolate Parfait:
Try crumbling this over my recipe for Mint-Chocolate Ice Milk.
Or skip the parfait idea and just cover these babies in devilishly-delicious green frosting. With chocolate chips, too. Don’t forget the chocolate chips.
For the cupcake frosting, I used this recipe.
I was worried it wouldn’t work, but it turned out perfectly!
I chose cashew butter in place of the pb (I thought pb-mint was too weird a combination), and I upped the ratio a little bit so it’d be thicker and easier to pipe. I also added a little peppermint extract and (obviously) a few drops of green food coloring. After mixing, I let it sit a few hours so it would be super-thick.
Question of the Day:
Do you remember any of your childhood Halloween costumes?
Some of mine: a Martian beauty queen, devil in a blue dress, purple-people-eater, monster chef, dust bunny (French maid with bunny ears), sand witch (sandwich), and “Indecisive” (where I wore a little bit of everything I could find. That one was really fun.) I always hope that one of my friends will throw a party, so I have an excuse to still dress up even though I’m obviously way too old for trick-or-treating. I still have no idea what I’m going to wear to this year’s Halloween party.
Also: I’m truly sorry if I offended anyone with yesterday’s post. I did edit that post–as well as respond to some of the comments–to say that some of you brought up very good points, opening my eyes and changing my opinons.
{ 107 comments… read them below or add one }
You look so different in that photo! You look more mature definitely! I’ve never celebrated Halloween before but its so fun to hear about it! Great job on the monster muffins!
I was a bumblebee… every year… haha! these look SO GOOD!
I was a Hersey’s Kiss!!! LOVED that cosutume! My sister and I were matching kisses!!!!
A monster cupcake to satisfy my monster craving! Looks absolutely delish! I remember my obession with being a “pretty” witch. I would dress in witch costume (sans the fake nose… ugh!), then apply my little- girl flavored lipgloss, aliitle dab of little-firl blush (or something) and out I went. Maybe that’s why i always got the most candy compared to my fellow witches
\
sorry, little- girl blush is wat i meant!
Hm..my favorite Halloween costume was in 8th grade; I was Princess Leia. The cupcakes look soo good, mint chocolate is the best!
Haha I LOVE that photo of you!! And these cupcakes are AMAZING! Love the Halloween decoration!
I dressed up as Hermione every single year as a kid. My Harry Potter obsession was all-consuming
I love mint chocolate chip! Yum!
I always dressed up as a witch’s cat! I wore black, painted my face and wore ears and a tail
My parents got these awesome vests that had lights that blinked and flashed. One was a fairy princess with streamers on the arms and the other was a space lady with a cool headband/crown thing. I remember thinking I was *so* cool when I would walk around the neighborhood all lit up and sparkly and the kids would point in envy. Too bad I am not the fashion trend-setter now (but it’s good to have been at least once right? ha ha)
these look divine!!! nothing beats the mint-choc-combo!!
These look awesome! You can’t go wrong with mint chocolate.
Aaaaw,that photo is so cute! You’ve always been so pretty – since your childhood!
Wow, Katie! They look amazing!! So moist and yummy.
Yummy!!!! I love mint and chocolate together!!!
Those look yummy! I never dressed up for halloween, but one time I walked around our neighborhood and collected candy without a costume. Yes, I was one of THOSE teenagers.
These look so yummy!! My favorite costume as a kid was a crayola crayon. My mom made it out of felt fabric and I made her make a new costume each year because I wanted to be a different color.
I was a crayon once too!!!! I wish I still had that costume. It got lost somewhere along the hand-me-down line.
I was a crayon one year. And I won a costume contest once as a tomato. It caused much drama in my household because I was actually an apple.
haha! “Drama”, how funny!
CUPCAKES!! I loooove cupcakes
These look delicious, & I bet the kids will love them!
I figured there might be some words said about your post on stereotypes, but I knew that you meant no harm by it. I thought, too, that your comment was a compliment. Remember that you can’t please everyone, Katie. Keep doing what you’re doing: I think you’re a great person!
Have a beautiful day
xo
Yum…these look so good! Chocolate and mint is such a refreshing combination and I love your green frosting! As for Halloween costumes, I only ever went to fall festivals at school (my mom doesn’t like Halloween) but I remember going as Tinker-belle, a butterfly, some character from Carmen SanDiego (haha!) and probably a ballerina. Last year I went as the goddess Medusa and had fake snakes in my hair! What are you doing this year?
Ahhhh I still don’t know
. I have a party to go to… but I have no idea what to “be” or what to make yet.
My favorite costume was when I was 26, and not a little kid, but I was “The Indian in the Cupboard.” Runners up: 4 of us as Ninja turtles, 6 of us as Clue characters, 6 of us as Corona bottles. I love costumes so much more than real clothes!
Don’t beat yourself up about yesterday- you totally meant well and I think most of us know that
Every year I think I wanted to be the girliest thing possible. Ballerinas and Princesses and such. Much glitter was involved.
These sound fantastic!
I can’t wait to try these. Mint and chocolate is one of my favorite combination!
My favorite costume was Jasmin from Aladdin (I wore it 2 years in a row). Those cupcakes look delicious!!
Try the frozen “Boo” nana pops on skinnytaste.com. they’re pretty cute.
I meant for the kids halloween party!
OMG_ holy delicious cupcakes. How do you make the bite look so perfect out of it? I always try that, but it NEVER looks good like yours. he he!
Halloween- I once was a bunny with a cunstruction paper carrot hnagout around my next that my mom made. Well, that stupid carrot hung a little too low and the picutres from that Halloween are, well, HILARIOUS! I have to find that picture to post on my blog.
PS- I add spinach to all my muffins for my two boys. Love that idea!
And……. I think peanut butter and chocolate mint go really well together. It’s my favorite frozen yogurt combo. You’d be surprised! Hugs!
Use a fork
I loved dressing up as a kid! My fave costume was a ballerina cat, it was awesome
I remember all of mine! My mom made them every year so they were extra special. I’d be excited for a whole month before!
fun! These look delicious
I was a princess for YEARS. Every Halloween my Mom would ask me what I wanted to be, and I would say time and time again “Cinderella!” So that’s what I was from about age 3 – 11. Then I got too tall for parents to believe I was trick or treating age. Darn growth spurt.
Girl, you are SO amazing! MONSTAH cupcakes?! You’ve won me over.
These look SO good! Especially the frosting and chocolate drizzle. I die!
Cashew butter was probably a good choice because of potential peanut allergies in schools too! I know so many day cares and schools these days are banning all forms of peanuts from even entering the building… a life without PB ahhh!
My favorite costume was a more recent costume … Heromine Granger, with a little liquid courage from my friend vodka, I was casting spells on everyone. It was a blast … and I ended up meeting my boyfriend (we have since broke up) who was very impressed with my spell casting! haha.
My costumes when I was little were always a veriation of three words (according to my mom)
Sparkle, Fairy, and Princess…
One year I was a Sparkly Fairy Princess, the next I was a Princess Sparkle Fairy… you get the idea.
I think one year I was the yellow power ranger… haha
I love mint chocolate – one of my Favorite things about Christmas time!
Those cupcakes look really yummy! My youngest sister is a HUGE mint chocolate chip fan, so I bet both me and her could make a batch together. That would be so much fun!
I can remember every Halloween costume I was in…..thanks to pictures! Starting from age 0 to 20:
Pumpkin, Dalmatian, Dalmatian, Ladybug, Simba, Simba, Jasmine, Jasmine, Cowgirl, Cowgirl, cowgirl, Mexican dancer, cowgirl, zebra, Seattle Mariner Ball Girl, Arwen, Chinese Geesha, Kitty Cat, School Teacher,Irish Dancer. I think you can tell what I really liked to dress up as most of all! Yeehaw! :~)
This year I am torn from being either a Starbucks Barista, Padme from “Star Wars”, or Agent 99 from “Get Smart”. I can’t decide who to be! Any ideas?
Maybe you could be Leia from “Star Wars”….. you know, wear your hair in the cinnamon-role style! And you could give out mini cinnamon buns (bite-sized) for trick-or-treaters that come to your door (if you get any). Wouldn’t that be something?
That would be incredible!! I need to work on my cinnamon-roll recipe anyway!
I definitely remember some of my Halloween costumes as a child! I was a Hawaiian girl, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and an American Girl doll!
OMG you are so adorable in that 2000 picture! I can`t believe how quickly time flies; I was 15 on Halloween in 2000!
Love the look of these cupcakes, yum!
Katie – I just found your site, and I am such a fan! These cupcakes look great! Thanks for the great recipes.
Aww thanks, Lindsey! I’m so glad you found me
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How fun and festive, and i’m sure delicious! I was such a typical girl during halloween as a kiddo — rainbow bright, a princess, an angel…I got more creative as a grown up, for sure!
Yum! These look absolutely amazing!! And who doesn’t love the chocolate-mint combo! Mmmm!
I love your Frankenstein picture! Too cute! Growing up I was a princess every.single.year. Apparently, no matter how hard my mom tried it was the only thing I wanted to be. Oh except for when I was like 4 yrs old and went as a bride. Um, I can never tell any potential boyfriend this!
Hi katie! Me again. Just went to read yesterday’s post. Actually i had read it but skipped the bottom part. I am an Asian (Indian to be exact) kid. Well of that descent anyway. My parents are both from India. I came back from a trip there, and i was amazed at how intelligent my cousins are! Thing is, i’m not really that intelligent, not on their level anyhow! I have always felt pressure that being Indian meant i should be doing better. But i loved people’s comments on the subject and i don’t feel that pressure! You handled it with grace and everyone out there who commented positively- i want to thank you all for making my day- and possibly changing the way i handle my life. THANK YOU
Aww Sarah, you are SUCH a sweetheart!!
I don’t really remember my own costumes. Only from pictures do I remember that I’ve been a witch and I’ve been a cheerleader. But the coolest costume was the year my dad made my brother a robot out of a cardboard box, tin foil, and all sorts of cool buttons. I wish I had a picture to share because it turned out sooo well! Gotta love homemade
Technically you were married to Frankenstein’s monster/creature, not Frankenstein himself
Ooh wow, you’re right! I never actually read the book, and so I always forget that it’s not the monster that was named Frankenstein!
*Feels a little silly*
I was such a nerd when I was a kid. One year I was Scarlett O’hara, and not because I liked the film or knew anything about the movie but because I just wanted to wear a big, ruffly dress.
A witch, Minnie Mouse, a spelunker, Beth from Little Women. In college I was a 50s carhop one year!
I want to throw a Halloween party just so i can make and serve these cupcakes!!!
xoxo <3
Yum…these look amazing!
I bet my little Princess who has asked to be a Princess for the FOURTH year in a row would love these. We’ve got the pink ruffles and wand and glitter waiting
These cupcakes look delicious. I hope they were a hit with the kiddos. Be careful with food dyes and kids though–they have been shown to be nuerologically damaging.
I only used like five tiny drops for the whole recipe. To be honest, though, I haven’t really done any research or heard much about it. Maybe I should’ve tried spinach!
Or spirulina?
Yum—these look so good! I love the combination of mint and chocolate, so good.
Mmmm, these look good, but I was definitely pulling for the spider cupcakes!
I was almost always a cheerleader or popstar. One year I was a teddy bear though, and this year, I’m being a mushroom!
Not a huge mint and chocolate fan… BUT I would try these for sure.
You managed to make them sound very tasty.
I LOVE Halloween, my best was Amy Winehouse. (RIP)…it was spot on and no one knew who I was… I was so unrecoginizable.
You read my mind! It’s snowy and cold here and I really wanted a good dessert without having to go out and I have everything for this, perfect!
Hopefully they’ll taste as good for me!
Update:
I halved the recipe and made mini ones (11 with the half recipe) – my DH really liked them but refused to hear the ingredients
I thought they were a little salty with the baking powder, baking soda, AND salt – I might cut back on some of that, although the amounts were so small I might have overused something…
I didn’t get the chance to try pb topping but that would be next on my list – the cream cheese frosting I tried was a big fail
Hey Megan! How long did you bake the mini-muffins for? I just bought a mini-muffin pan and am so excited to try it! Thanks.
Mint chocolate is such a good combo! I was a robot for Halloween one year, my most awkward costume. But Halloween’s my favorite holiday so I remember most of them!
Thank you again for a devine looking recipe.
It’s so lovely to know I can bake treats for my family that do not contain huge quantities of fat and/or sugar.
I hope the unpacking is basically done and you have a fiendishly fabulous halloween.
Hi Katie! Thanks once again for the awesome recipe. I’ll try it with the spinach and keep you posted.
For the frosting, you gave a link that takes us to “Banana Butter”, but then you mention you have used Cashew Butter. I am confused. Which butter did you use? and if CB, can you please share the recipe. Thanks Katie!
Hi Priya,
I did use the banana butter recipe, just subbing cashew butter for the peanut butter.
Definitely do let me know about the spinach if you try it!
Katie, Oh my gosh. YUUUUMMMM!!!! I love chocolate mint! Have I ever mentioned how obsessed I am with your mint chocolate chip smoothie?! YUUUM!
And for halloween-I always wanted to be a princess when I was little! Always.
They look fantastic — I LOVE chocolate and mint! Festive, to boot! Thanks
MINT CHOCOLATE IS THE BEST FLAVOR OF ANYTHING EVER!
I am so saving this recipe to make for my sister–she is all about anything mint chocolate. Plus, she’s eating for two these days, so she needs a little extra
Another delicious looking recipe! I love mint, especially in cupcake form!!
You look so different in that picture. I was Simba for my first halloween I think and after that I was usually Cinderella.
Delicious cup cakes. Mint and chocolate is one of the best combinations.
Spinach in mint chocolate chip cupcakes is the perfect combo! http://skinnyfatgirls.com/2011/10/23/mint-chocolate-chip-cupcakes/
I guess great minds do think alike
Oh. My. God. That is the cutest photo I’ve ever seen.
I wanna add spinach to this :]
Oh my goodness this looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
Hahaha love the costume! I remember being barbie, angel, pumpkin, hippie, butterfly, pirate, witch….obviously I am just too creative
Katie, I love that you had an open mind yesterday and actually changed your opinion from reading people’s comments. I learned a lot too! I think that’s what’s great about the blogging world…conversation…where bloggers are still people too, and learn as well. It’s what really makes it a community.
So I just wanted to thank you for opening up such a sticky conversation, and I hope you don’t shy away from it in the future.
Oh and the two costumes that I remember the best from childhood are “goddess of fall” and Joan Crawford. I remember all the adults really getting a kick out of Joan Crawford…=)
LoveloveLOVE the Frankenstein picture! Adorable!
I got more creative with my costumes as I got older. These days, I’m afraid to say, I’m usually just too darn tired to put a costume together for myself, so I put all the effort into my kids. They have at least 3 Halloween parties every year, and I just love it. (It’s my favorite holiday, can you tell, lol!)
One year I was a particularly gruesome dead bride (complete with slit throat. I was doing work as a makeup artist at the time). But one of my favorites was at our friends’ party: the theme was “Favorite Dead Celebrity” (we could get a bit morbid before the kids came along
) and one friend dressed as Colonel Sanders, but his suit was black. He held a glowing red KFC bucket that said “Kentucky Died Chicken.” It was quite creative!
Mint and chocolate are so dreamy together! Katie, your cupcakes look sooooo good! I am going to make these with the new Mint Chocolate coconut milk from So Delicious. Should be amazing.
I dressed up like a chicken once XD Seriously. I wish that I still had that costume, and that it wasn’t kid-sized lol
Great recipe
I made them last night with some mods since I don’t have yogurt… They turned out amazing 
How many calories would be in these without the icing?! Can anyone help a girl out?!
THANKS!! Love anything mint mmm
I halved the recipe and made 11 mini ones with 24 calories each….
I think it partially depends on which ingredients you use and how much you add in terms of chips
I’d love to know the calorie count too, please. They look SO yummy!!!
Mmmm…Hello, Cupcake!
and Hi, Katie! I just discovered your blog a couple of weeks ago (Thank you, Pinterest) and have already tried your Cookie Dough dip. I was pretty sure I’d end up tossing the dip in the garbage — but it was all I could do not to eat the whole bowl in one sitting. I’m on a nothing-white diet at the moment, so I used Splenda and omitted the chocolate chips — still delicious! As a final test, I let my kids try it and they had no idea it wasn’t real cookie dough. Bravo!
I’m trying the blondies next, then I’ll tackle the cupcakes
Costumes…I only remember one as a kid (Tootsie Roll), but Halloween is my daughter’s (Katie, too) favorite holiday, so we have a good stock of costumes: chef, hot dog, taco (she wants to be a chef, so you see a theme here), Tulane cheerleader (when she was 2!), this year she’ll be a gorilla. My husband and I have been Bacon and Eggs, Batman and Wonderwoman, Vikings…so fun.
Thanks for your uplifting posts and for your delicious recipes!
Aww, that makes me SO happy!
And your daughter has the best name
Kate,
Where do you find your coconut extract? We have a Sprouts here, kind of like a smaller version of Whole Foods, and they do not carry it. Would a health store like GNC or Vitamin Shoppe carry it?
Also, for those extremely tasty looking chocolate mint cupcakes, you suggested adding spinach. How much? In what form (raw, frozen) and whole, chopped, or pureed? And where in the recipe, with the wet ingredients, at the end before baking.. etc..?
Oddly enough, I actually found it at Target! (It’s Archer Farms brand.)
I can’t vouch for the spinach idea, but if I had tried it, I probably would’ve tried frozen, thawed spinach… maybe pureed it with the yogurt? I’m not sure what I would’ve done, because I never got the chance to experiment.
Im sooo glad I found this website!!! Its the first website that has desserts that actualy are healthy and have no sugar without using the fake stuff or Splenda!!! And usually I hate dates and those kinda things but this totally changes my perspective. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT
Awww thank you!!!
Hi Katie,
Sorry if this question has already been asked but, do you think tahini would work in place of the nut butter for the frosting? Or do you this that would taste odd? I know I could use chocolate butter instead but would rather keep the green colour of the frosting visible (they are for my children).
The other thing I was thinking of using is coconut butter. What do you think? All and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Nina
Personally, I don’t like the taste of tahini, so I’m biased against it! But coconut butter would be AWESOME!
Ha, so pleased you said that about the coconut butter! That’s what I used. I popped them in the fridge and the choc chips set into the frosting. The frosting was hard but not frighteningly so. We had some for afternoon tea today (bearing in mind it’s 8pm Halloween night, here in Canberra, Australia) and they were devine.
Thank you Katie.
These look incredible. Chocolate mint is my favourite chocolate flavour, and mint chocolate chip used to be my favourite ice cream. The frosting is so clever, too! I might just have to make these some time
how did you achieve that mint color for the frosting? I used green food coloring, but it isn’t as bright as yours
I used Wilton green food coloring. It comes in a tiny container and is very powerful. (I find it at Michaels.)
Hi Katie
Must we use canola oil and yogurt? and i was wondering if Lactaid was okay to use because i don’t have almond milk! 
But thanks for this recipe it looks sooo delicious! You’re brilliant!! 
You can use any milk you have on hand
.
You can sub the canola for veg oil or even coconut oil!
These are in the oven now! I doubled the recipe and they turned out great. I can’t stop eating the dough for the second batch! LOVE your site.
Ok, so these cupcakes came out delicious. However, my frosting (while it tasted good) looked like a pile of rotten guacamole. How the heck did you get the coloring to be so pretty??
What food coloring did you use? And what nut butter? I used wilton brand, and I only needed a few drops!
It was McCormick green food coloring which comes out way dark. I also tested it in the mint chocolate chip ice cream…i have an obsession with mint chocolate. I used sunflower seed butter which is light, so I’m not sure if that would make a huge difference. I’ll definitely get the Wilton brand. Thanks a bunch! This is my new favorite website of all time
Aw thanks, Kara!
I like Wilton because you can get all sorts of different color shades. Plus you only need a drop or two!
Sounds good to me!
P.S. my mom said you should make a book. lol
I don’t have any vanilla yogurt on hand, so I made these with strawberry yogurt, strawberry-apple applesauce, and of course, lots of chocolate chips. Not bad, a little bit fruity and very chocolaty. I can’t wait to try the mint version!
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