Mint chocolate chip buttercream (on dark chocolate cupcakes)

Let's face it, I like to bake.  Sometimes, I bake things just to bake them, with no actual event to attend or people to serve it to.  Other times I find a reason to bake...and yet sometimes there's an event scheduled and a reason to bake and so I bake.  This was one of those times!

My parent's neighbor wrote a book and she threw a party for the book's launch (I was one of the fortunate people to have read it before it was released).  Naturally, I offered to bake.  Originally, I was going to go with a theme -- nail polish bottle cookies (the book is called "Mani-Pedi STAT") -- but then I found out that one of her friends had beat me to it and had already offered to make those.  So instead I went with mini cupcakes.  A variety of mini cupcakes, to be exact.

I had grand plans.  It's the overachiever in me.  I was going to make 5 different kinds of mini cupcakes -- seriously, have I mentioned how overzealous I am sometimes? -- but that fell by the wayside.  Instead, I simply went with dark chocolate mini cupcakes.  Then, I mixed them up with the icings.....Mint chocolate chip buttercream and Oreo icing.  For the Oreo cupcakes, click here for a link to the cupcakes, and here for a link to the icing.  But the new recipe was this heavenly mint chocolate chip buttercream!!  And it went oh-so-well with the dark chocolate cupcakes (same as the ones above for the Oreo cupcakes) I've been making a lot lately...they were simply amazing!!

Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream
Icing is slightly adapted from this recipe
They go great on these dark chocolate cupcakes...

Ingredients:

3/4  cup butter, partially softened (preferable half salted and half unsalted -- I didn't have salted butter, so I just added a little pinch of salt)
1/2 tsp mint extract (I used peppermint, even though the original recipe said not too, so I just used less)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Green food coloring (I used about 5 drops) -- color to your liking
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (The original recipe said to used finely chopped chocolate, which I might try next time, since it made the icing look more chocolate chippy [totally a real baking term, OK?])

Mini ice cream cones, for decoration.  I made mini cupcakes and the mini cones were just the right size, although I think I'd stick with mini cones even on full-sized cupcakes...

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, whip the butter on medium speed until it's light and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides and bottom often.
Blend in the extracts.
Add in the powdered sugar, first on low until it's incorporated.
Add the food coloring.
Increase mixer speed and beat until very light and fluffy; again continuing to scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl.
Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a mini ice cream scooper or a cookie scoop (for mini cupcakes), scoop icing onto cupcakes.
(This got quite tiresome for me, so after a while, I piped it on with a large round piping tip, being sure to pile it on a little high, so that it still looked like a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream!)
Top each frosting scoop with an upside down mini ice cream cone.