Seriously, you're gonna wanna print this recipe...

So I love to experiment with cupcake recipes. Sometimes the result sucks. Sometimes they're kinda ehhh. And every great once in a while, they're spectacular. And last night's experiment was in the later category.

It all started when I saw this blog post about Candy Cane Kiss Centered Brownie Bites. I was immediately intrigued, especially since I was gonna be baking for a baby shower at work and had a bag of Candy Cane Kisses. However, I wasn't crazy about the regular brown brownies and the white chocolate of the Candy Cane Kisses. So I decided to try a White Chocolate Brownie Cupcake with a kiss in the middle and Candy Cane Kiss Frosting. And they're fraking incredible!

First off is the White Chocolate Brownie Cupcake itself, for which I slightly modified a brownie recipe from allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:

3 (2 ounce) bars White Baking Chocolate, broken into pieces 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons water 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled 12 Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses

DIRECTIONS:

1.	MICROWAVE baking bars in medium, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.
2.	COMBINE flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.
3.	COMBINE sugar, eggs, water and almond extract in large bowl. Add melted baking bars and butter; stir until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture. Pour into cupcake pans and push one Candy Cane Kiss into the center of each cupcake.
4.	BAKE in preheated 350 degrees F. oven for 20 minutes. As they cool, the cupcakes will probably sink in the middle a bit, but that's ok.

Then I made up a frosting. I wanted peppermint and white chocolate and, since the kisses worked so well IN the cupcakes, I couldn't think of anything that would be better ON the cupcakes. So here is the recipe I made up, which turned out perfectly! Now don't worry about exact measurements since I'm really just guessing at what amount I actually put in there.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter 20 unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses 2 oz (roughly) white chocolate chips

1/2 pound confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 c whipping cream

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Melt kisses, chips and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. Mix in confectioners' sugar, vanilla and some cream. Once you're happy with the taste, put it in the fridge (I actually put mine in the freezer), let it cool completely, and then mix it again. If you need to add more of anything, you can. Mine was just right after it cooled.