Mint Chocolate Cupcakes & Bento

I made mint chocolate cupcakes for William's lunch treat this week.  They are really good!!  And William LOVES them.  I made a bunch of mini cupcakes to go in his bento and then I made 6 regular sized cupcakes to frost at some point (they are currently hanging out in the freezer waiting for a reason to be frosted and enjoyed.  William and I LOVE all things mint chocolate, so these are a big hit!

William said, "you know, I eat those cupcakes before any of my healthy food at lunch!" and I was all, "I do not blame you, man." And, secretly, these aren't too terrible for you!  

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder 
• 1 cup flour (I used white-whole-wheat)
• 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 yogurt (I used a lactose-free yogurt that is super good!)
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 3 T canola oil
• optional: add a few handfuls chocolate chips to the batter!
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 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. 

Per regular sized cupcake there are only 130 calories and three grams of fat (depending on what yogurt you use)!!  The mini cupcakes are only about 55 calories - so eat up!!

And here is William's bento this week:

Back left: super crackers

Back middle: mint chocolate cupcake

Back right: baby carrots

Front left: turkey wraps in whole wheat tortillas

Front right: strawberries (some right from our garden!)

This is a very popular lunch.  Today, the only thing that came home was about 3 bites of wrap and 2 baby carrots.  And crumbs.