White Chocolate Peppermint Buttercream (Recipe)

Please don't get me wrong - I am NOT trying to rush the Holidays upon us at all with this post!! Just thinking in the essence of my love of planning ahead (and assuming that there are others out there who might like to do the same) I thought I'd share what was one of my favorite recipes from last Christmas! I paired this with one of my favorite chocolate cupcakes, but I just have to say - if you're a fan of the peppermint Hershey Kisses that come out right about this time of year (the red and white striped ones?) you MUST try this frosting recipe!!! You will be in love! I topped my cupcakes with peppermints, which turned out quite lovely - however, I will say that once they spent some time in the fridge the peppermints turned (for lack of a better word) "goopy" and the red coloring actually ran off the peppermint!! Thinking if I make more of these this year, I might just use some of the Peppermint Hershey Kisses instead :)

White Chocolate Peppermint Buttercream
12 ounces butter, softened
4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
1-2 teaspoons peppermint extract
Red food coloring (optional)
Peppermint candies

Prepare the buttercream: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the confectioner's sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled white chocolate until well combined. Add enough of the heavy cream until the buttercream reaches your desired consistency for piping or spreading and beat on high speed for 1 minute more. Beat in 1-2 teaspoons peppermint extract (depending on how strong you want the peppermint flavor to be.) Color with red food coloring, if desired. (I used a small paint brush to stripe the inside of my decorating bag before placing the icing inside it to achieve the candy stripe look of my icing swirls on my cupcakes.)
Pipe or spread the buttercream decoratively onto the cupcakes and top with a peppermint candy or crushed peppermint candies.