Did someone say Margarita cupcakes?!!

Right-ee-oo, I did.  First off, let me start you off with a brief history of Whitney and the cupcake.  I am clinically obsessed with cupcakes.  OBSESSED.  I have more than 5 cookbooks dedicated to cupcakes (one of my co-workers was shocked to know that there were indeed cupcake cookbooks and that there were so many recipes to choose from) and can't seem to stop buying them or accepting them as gifts.  I wasn't always like this, but with age comes change and one of those changes is cupcake mania.  But I digress.  Let me share with you one of my new favorite cupcake recipes.  Behold, the Margarita Cupcake!!

Margarita Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes (one for you 23 for me)

• 1 package (about 18 oz) white cake mix
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp margarita mix, divided
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp grated lime peel, divided 
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp tequila or lime juice
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp sparkling or granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp salt (optional)
• green food coloring
• lime peel strips (optional)       

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 24 standard (2 1/2 inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups.
2. Combine cake mix, 3/4 cup margarita mix, eggs, oil, water, 1 tsp lime peel and lime juice in a large bowl.  Whisk 2 minutes or until well blended.  Spoon batter evenly into prepared cups.
3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Remove cupcakes to wire racks and allow to cool completely before frosting.
4. Combine tequila, remaining 2 tbsp margarita mix and 2 tsp lime peel in medium bowl. Whisk in powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached ( I like mine thicker)  Spread glaze over the cupcakes.  Combine the granulated sugar and salt in a small bowl.  Add food coloring one drop at a time until the desired shade of green is reached.  Dip cupcake edges in sugar/salt mixture.  Garnish with a lime peel.

 P.S.  For the most part I don't really like mixes so I just used a recipe for white or vanilla cupcakes as the base.  If you choose to make your cupcakes from scratch, you would only need to add the margarita mix, lime juice and peels to the batter you've made from scratch (no additional ingredients such as the egg or oil.)