Peppermint Patties

How appropriate for our last recipe of the year- peppermint patties. Seasonally relevant and great stocking stuffers. A creamy, minty filling enrobed in dark chocolate, simple and elegant and so delicious! After sourcing a few hard to find ingredients, these are a breeze to make. Quite a nice send off before we tackle the next chapter in the new year, puff pastry and croissants. I hope you'll all join us as we continue to bake through the book!

Tania

I absolutely love peppermint patties! The dark chocolate and mint flavor combo is superb. This recipe seemed a bit intimidating at first, but it was really only a matter of procuring the correct ingredients. The process itself wasn't complicated. The optional ingredients I omitted, since I couldn't find them anyways. I decided to make my own pouring fondant, there were lots of recipes online. So first I made that, then stared on the peppermint centers.

I followed the instructions properly, took the sugar to the correct temp and added all the ingredients. But the mixture never got to be opaque white, it was still clear-ish. I thought it might change as it set up, but no. Instead of using a piping bag, I just poured the hot sugar into a glass measuring cup with a spout, and poured it into the individual silicone molds. I re-used the cupcake liners from the last recipe. The book says they should solidify in about 15 minutes, but I found it look much longer. Just to be safe, I let them set up overnight. I think the pouring fondant I made wasn't correct, because they never got a creamy texture. You could still see the grains of sugar in the patties. The taste was ok, but the texture wasn't as nice.

I used the pouring method to enrobe them in dark chocolate. I dipped the bottoms, let them set up, then poured the chocolate over the tops. I find you use more chocolate this way, and there's more wasted, but it does work. Again, the tempering was an issue, so it took a long time for them to harden properly. But overall, I'm pleased with the result. It's hard to believe that you can make a store-bought treat like this at home, but with the proper ingredients, it's not hard at all!