St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes With a Hidden Surprise

Do you do anything fun for St Patty's Day? I don't usually do anything other than green pancakes for dinner. Of course a leprechaun visits our house when he remembers, and has been known to turn our milk green and leave a bag of chocolate coins. Last year the girls set a trap to catch him, but he is really clever!

My girls and their friends put together an elaborate trap a few weeks ago. It consisted of a large box, the stairs from their Barbie house, pom poms, glue, glitter and an obscene amount of sequins dumped in the bottom. I'm not sure what the actual trap was supposed to do but it has been sitting in the corner of our family room since.
That is until Little Dude, in a fit of frustration, grabbed it and decided to dump it all over the floor.
Let's just say my vacuum hasn't recovered.
My girls reassured me though.
"Don't worry Mom, we can make another"
Great! *sigh*

Ok, back to the cupcakes. Little Dude and I made these yesterday as a bit of an experiment. The hubby said it would never work.
He was wrong!

So to start we needed green batter. We just used a box mix and added some food coloring. Little Dude wanted the cupcakes to be green and white so I separated our batter and tinted only half green. Then kinda stirred the green into the white, trying not to stir too much so we would have a marble effect. It didn't work great. I suggest just tinting the whole batch green. Or, use a darker food coloring (I just used the light green I had on hand).

See, the green isn't super green or much different than the white.
Where's the surprise you ask?

 He didn't see the surprise at first either and knew it was in there (after all he helped me put them in). This is his face right before things get ugly.

Can you see it now?

 Before cooking your cupcakes add a chocolate coin to the center!  Fill your cupcake pan with batter like usual and then push a coin down into the cupcake batter just until the top of the coin is covered (this will ensure it doesn't sink the bottom and will wind up in the center). The hubby said they would melt and leak out of their wrappers, but they didn't. Just make sure you let your cupcakes cool thoroughly before serving or the chocolate will be all melted in the wrappers. If you wait for them to thoroughly cool, cake won't be stuck to them and the chocolate will be nice and solid again.

By coincidence they are both wearing things I've shared on this blog

He found the coin! Phew, close call.

Super fun St. Patty's Day treat, don't you think? Do you have anything special you usually make? I would love to hear! :)

I used very large chocolate coins for my cupcakes. Please do the same to ensure there is no chance of swallowing. These may not be best for the littlest kids in your life and should be eaten with supervision. Tell the kids beforehand that there is a surprise in the middle!