Peppermint Patties

Wow, it has been quite some time since I last posted. I’m sorry, but I took another college trip. This time I went to visit the College of Charleston in South Carolina. My goodness, Charleston is so beautiful and the weather was lovely every day that I was there. And the campus, it’s like medium sized with a little over ten thousand students- the perfect size for me. I can totally picture myself going there. Only problem is, I have another college that I’m crazy about. So now I have to make the hard decision of choosing this one or going for the Bridge Program into Clemson. I guess the good news is that I have two solid choices and either college I pick will be right for me. I know one person who applied to thirteen colleges, and I know one person who didn’t get into any, so I guess I’m lucky that I got into ones that I really love.

Ok, so enough about that, let’s talk chocolatey/minty/creamy goodness. I actually made these about a week before St. Patrick’s Day, but have only gotten around to posting about them now. I’m showing you these awesome little peppermint patties I found on Tracey’s blog.

These were seriously addicting to eat, and did not last long in my house, seriously. It is so easy to pop two or three into your mouth without realizing it, but it’s totally worth it because these taste a whole lot better and fresher than the store-bough variety.

I hadn’t had a peppermint pattie in so long, and after eating a handful of these, I’m starting to wonder why. I probably won’t buy the name brand version again because these are just too delicious not to make!  The only minor frustration is the sticky dough? Cream? Center type thing. It was kind of hard to roll out.  After adding some more powdered sugar and making sure the creamy center was thoroughly chilled it was much easier to roll out and cut into circles. I also recommend brushing some of the melted chocolate onto the bottom of the foil to coat the bottom of the peppermint pattie and then brushing the chocolate on top- it makes for a much neater assembly process.

Peppermint Patties
From Tracey’s Culinary Adventures
Makes 4 dozen 1 inch peppermint patties

Ingredients
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ tbsp light corn syrup
1 ½ tbsp water
½ tsp. pure peppermint extract
1 tbsp. butter, soft
Pinch of salt
10 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, water, peppermint extract and butter. Beat on medium speed until the dough starts to form a ball.
2. Dust work surface with a little bit of confectioners’ sugar. Knead the cream center a few times until smooth. Place the cream center between two sheets of parchment (I just used plastic wrap and it worked fine) and roll into about 1/8 inch thickness. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until firm (at least 15 minutes).
3. Remove peppermint disk from the freezer and dust with a little more powdered sugar. Using a 1 inch round cutter cut circles and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Once you have cut out as many circles as you can, re-roll the peppermint cream filling and repeat until all of it has been used up. Put back into the freezer while you melt the chocolate.
4. In a glass bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate until smooth. Take the peppermint patties out of the freezer and gently work them off the foil. Brush on a dollop of chocolate onto each spot a pattie used to be. Place the peppermint pattie centers on top of the chocolate dollop and brush with more chocolate. Place the chocolate-coated patties back into the freezer to set up (about 15 minutes). Store the peppermint patties in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer for up to a month (they won’t last that long, trust me). I personally believe these taste the best right out of the freezer, something about the fresh peppermint taste combined with the chill from the freezer gives the peppermint pattie an extra pepperminty taste.