Peppermint Patties
If we are anything in this house, it is mint lovers. But, this wasn’t always the case for me. I used to pick peanut butter cups over peppermint patties. I used to skip over all of Giada’s recipes that used fresh mint. All of that changed when I found out that Mr. Dessert For Two is a mint fiend. When he told me he loves a good peanut butter and mint jelly sandwich (I’m gagging right along with you), I knew I was going to have to incorporate mint into my cooking for him.
The first meal I ever cooked for him was a Giada recipe: I brushed skinless salmon fillets with agave nectar and placed them on the grill. I then set to work on supremeing oranges for a mint and orzo salad with a champagne vinaigrette. Apparently, surpreming citrus fruit on a date is highly impressive, or so I’ve been told.
It seems that my baking lately has turned into nothing but ice cream accoutrements: crunchy stir-ins, warm oozing toppings, and small batches of cookies to smash scoops between.
These peppermint patties do double duty: a fun thing to make from scratch (and loads better than the store-bought variety), but also delicious chopped and folded into homemade chocolate ice cream.
I have one word of caution for this recipe: your patties must be frozen solid before dunking in chocolate. We are essentially dumping sugar into hot chocolate; the potential for melting is high. If this happens to you, save yourself the frustration and dump all of the patties in the chocolate, stir and serve as a warm mint-chocolate sauce for topping ice cream. It happens to the best of us. Next time, be quick with the chocolate dunking: drop the patties in on one side, flip with a fork, then remove immediately to return to the freezer.
- 1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for rolling
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons water
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 4 ounces dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon shortening (or coconut oil)
- In a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar. Sprinkle over the top the water, corn syrup and extract. Slowly beat the mixture together with an electric mixer. At first, it will seem like the mixture won’t come together, but stay with it. When it begins to clump, gather the mixture in your hands and knead it together. You should have a soft white dough that holds together well.
- Next, take two pieces of parchment paper of equal size and dust them with powdered sugar. Place the dough on one piece, dust with more powdered sugar and cover with the other piece of parchment paper. Roll out the mixture to ¼” thickness. Keep the dough between the two sheets of parchment paper, place it on a small baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.
- Once 30 minutes has elapsed, peel off the top layer of parchment and cut out as many circles with a 1.5″ cookie cutter as you can. When you run out of space, gather up the dough and roll it out again. You should get about 12 circles. Place the circles back on the cookie sheet lined with parchment and freeze solid for at least 1 hour.
- When ready to dunk, melt the chocolate and shortening in a double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Now, take the patties out of the freezer and dunk them QUICKLY in the chocolate. Place them back on the sheet and freeze to set. Store in the freezer.
I made old-fashioned peppermints last week using confectioners sugar, butter, & mint extract and I wrote in the post I wanted to make chocolate dipped mints but worried they wouldn’t hold up to warm/hot chocolate. Well, this post just proved me wrong. Gorgeous looking patties!
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So fun! Love this idea
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Homemade candy is a dream… these look amazing!
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Do you think I could sub butter for the shortening and/or agave nectar for the corn syrup?
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Christina Reply:
June 25th, 2012 at 5:43 am
Hi Hannah,
Thanks for writing. I didn’t try to make the recipe with agave nectar or butter. I suspect the agave is too thin, but how about coconut oil instead of shortening?
Happy baking
Christina
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Looks AMAZING!
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Oh these sound sooooo wonderful. Unlike peanut butter and mint jelly. Ick!
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I can’t wait to make these!! Yum!
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Peppermint patties are one of my very favorites!!! So is mint chocolate chip ice cream…always has been since I was a girl. Your husband is a smart man!!
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Cookbook Queen Reply:
June 25th, 2012 at 5:33 am
Okay, so I said husband but you know what I meant. Hopefully this didn’t scare him off.
I’m done putting my foot in my mouth now.
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Yum – I ADORE choco mint ANYTHING! I have been dying to try these! Your posts always inspore me!
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CHECK. These out. I want some.
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I love chocolate and mint together. I can never taste the chocolate though. I think mint just takes over, but I don’t mind. Mint anything (except EXTRA chocolate chip mint ice cream gum) is delicious and I will eat an obscene amount of it. As for the peanut butter and mint sandwich… I have no words for that. o.O
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i never really liked peppermint patties until recently – weird, right? i love that i can make them at home now though! although that could be INCREDIBLY dangerous for my waistline…
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They are simular to our peppermint creams that we make in england but we add a little green food colouring to them and only coat half in chocolate
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Ahhhh I love these!! What a genius idea!!
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oh wow, these look fabulous and so perfect! just like the real thing but better!
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Gorgeous and yummy! I love chocolate and mint together…never could understand the people who don’t get all excited about the combo. Mr. Dessert for Two is genius for the PB & Mint jelly sandwich…this is hillarious and sounds awesome to me!
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Mr Dessert for Two is a very lucky man. These look awesome.
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Oh man, I didn’t even know that was makeable at home! Can’t wait to give this a try – Jason is going to be thrilled!
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I’ve never thought to brush salmon with agave nectar. That sounds delicious! The pep patties do also!
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oh, yum! what a fabulous idea to make homemade peppermint patties – love it! although i am a bit skeptical about your honey’s love for peanut butter + mint jelly sandwiches – i’m not sold on that one yet! =P
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These look spectacular! Peppermint Patties are on my buckets list!
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WOW! These look amazing! I love your blog, perfect for a sweet tooth gal like me!
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What! These look amazing!!! Mr. Nutmeg Nanny would go crazy for these little gems. I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend
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Yum! My boyfriend is a huge mint fan too – he’s always asking for mint choc chip ice cream and minty desserts so this would be absolutely perfect for him. I think I’ll try them crumbled into ice cream…
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These really look like the real thing! Yum!!!
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I have to learn to make these things! They look better than arnott’s
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I’ve made these before and they’re so good! Yours look like they turned out perfectly
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I’ve always wanted to make these! Glad I read your tips before I did because I tend to have low patience level and could see myself not freezing the mint all the way before dipping in chocolate. Looks like the wait is worth it!
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wow these look INCREDIBLE.
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This looks incredible, I LOVE peppermint patties and had no idea you could make them at home. This is next on my MUST MAKE list
Thank you!!
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I love mint as well. I’ve been looking for small batch candy recipes to try my hand with. It’s something I remember doing as a kid with my grandmother but I haven’t done any since I was about 10.
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I’ve always wanted to make these. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
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I’ll have to save this for the holidays! Looks great!
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I love peppermint patties! Yours look absolutely perfect!
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A number of things:
1.) PB and mint jelly? I can’t decide if that’s better or worse than my best friend’s favorite, pb and pickles. Yuck (although I do love mint jelly on my lamb…but that’s because it is LAMB and not PB.)
2.) I think we have thoroughly proven the old adage “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” (I made Ryan risotto on our first date…)
3.) My momma is a crazy mint and chocolate lover. She will love these!
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I am a mint lover too but I must say, I’ve never tried mint jelly and peanut butter together. I’m thinking it would be pretty good. Your chocolate peppermint patties are perfect!!
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Okay, I’m trying to take the mint jelly and peanut butter thingy and I think it’d be good, maybe even grilled like a tuna patty melt! Great job on the patties, perfect looking actually
Cheers
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I REALLY love your posts and your photos I have nomintaed you for the Food Stories Award for Excellence in Storytelling! http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/)
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wow it look so yummy!!
I love peppermint patties,thank you
for sharing the recipe with us!
Have a good day beautiful
kiss from Brazil.
http://www.scarlletgs.blogspot.com
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wow, that looks super yummy. love peppermint patties from girl’s scouts
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I’ve made peppermint patties before and I couldn’t believe how easy they were! And they were a definite hit! Yours look great =)
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