On the eighth day of Christmas...

This Christmas is eating all of us. Or should we say... We are eating this Christmas!

Remember the gingerbread cookies?

And the frosted oatmeal cookies?

And that is not even counting all the cookies I have made on my own, for church or caroling or whatever. Buttered Rum Meltaways. Cinnamon Snickerdoodles. Pumpkin Cranberry Bars. There are many more I cannot even remember. When did I become to the kitchen what Leonard Pennario is to the piano? How did it happen?

The sweets got so overwhelming at my brother George's house that his wife sensibly said enough sugar, enough. But no such rule was imposed on my house! Hence the Creme de Menthe Cupcakes that my little niece Barbara and little nephew Georgie and I made on New Year's Day, aka the Solemnity of Mary, aka the Eighth Day of Christmas.

The recipe came from "Cupcake Heaven," this book I gave Barbara for Christmas. What do you know, I found this particular treat online. Someone has always posted a recipe, you know? You just have to look for it.

Our recipe is in American and the online recipe has British measurements. But the math would be worth it in my opinion. If just for the batter alone. This cupcake batter was amazing. And so was the frosting, which we tinted mint green. Above you may observe Georgie sampling the batter.

The proud baker.

We decorated the cupcakes with chocolate chips and crushed candy canes. CVS had candy canes, a package of 18, on sale for 75 cents forever and so I just kept buying them.

Closeups of cupcakes.

Seeing that most people are not aware of the true Twelve Days of Christmas, this creates an opportunity. I am going to go looking for "post-Christmas" sales. There may be festive cupcake wrappers to be had. Or different sugars or sprinkles.

We have not yet begun to bake!