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Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

peppermint patties – we should cocoa

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… I used to work in an office where, for some unknown reason, it became tradition that if you went away anywhere be it through work or just on holiday, you had to bring back some local confectionary… I think part of the challenge was to find the most obscure sweets you could get your hands on… many a time there would be bowls of bizarre Congolese ant-flavoured boiled sweets laying around the office for weeks before the next batch of candy arrived…

… my absolute favourite foreign confection is the York Peppermint Patty… I simply adore anything with a mint and chocolate combination from the simple mint choc-chip ice cream to the creamy soft after-eight mint… and the peppermint patty with it’s dark, bitter and crisp chocolate shell, revealing that firm yet yielding minty fresh cream underneath has always been a joy to me… we have similar sweets here in the UK such as the Kendal Mint Cake and Fry’s Mint Bars but none of them really compare to those wonderful foil-wrapped coins… ok, i’m not suggesting for one minute that these are a luxury chocolate in any way but as candy goes, they are, for me, perfection…

peppermint patties
i hunted high and low across my cookbooks and the internet for an original recipe but there wasn’t a conclusive one I could find so this is a combination of a few including the brilliant Lorraine Pascal… I have also used some green food colouring (can you tell…) because i’m entering these into Chele and Choclette’s We Should Cocoa challenge whose theme this month is green… of all things… oh and I think they’re appropriate for today for some reason too…

300g icing sugar
125g condensed milk
2 tsp peppermint extract (but do judge for yourself… I like it nice and minty)
green food colouring

100g dark chocolate – melted

– place the sugar, milk, food colouring (if using) and peppermint in a bowl and mix together into a ball

– dust the work surface with icing sugar and roll out the peppermint dough ball to roughly 5mm thick and cut out as many disk shapes as you like using any shape you desire

– place the cut-out patties onto a sugar dusted baking sheet and place it in the fridge for 30 mins

– melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly, take the mint patties out of the fridge and dip them into the chocolate, half a disk at a time and then refrigerate again for 30 mins… you can either leave them like this or dip the non-chocolate side so they are fully covered.

eat and of course, enjoy!

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Comments

  5. Andrea the Kitchen Witch says

    Ooh pretty!! I agree with you Dom, York peppermint patties are delightful indeed! Yours look really really delicious. I like the half dipped look – and it's a LOT easier than dipping the whole thing. Mine always seem to melt when I dip the whole disc. Maybe the chocolate isn't tempered properly? Don't know!

  9. Helene Dsouza says

    I have never tried peppermint patties. I know only mint and choco as combination in after eight. lol Glad I learned about your recipe because it looks simple enough too prepare and quick too! plus my husband would love me more for those patties.

  10. Suelle says

    These look delicious! Mint and chocolate is best kept to confectionary, rather than brought into baking, IMO!

    Well done on your TV appearance – you were an obvious winner, as it was only a flair with presentation that was lacking, rather than more fundamental faults with technique and flavour!

  12. Choclette says

    Dom, these look delightful. I have very fond memories of peppermint creams, which I used to make as Christmas presents when I was a child – I also managed quite successfully to consume the majority of them. I think I used to use cream rather than condensed milk though and never had a clue the Americans were claiming them for their own!!!

  14. Janice says

    oh I'm struggling with the green thing, not sure where to go with it. Your Peppermint Patties remind me of Charlie Brown and Snoopy 😉

  17. Chele says

    I'm with you – chocolate and mint is a perfect combo. Never made my own peppermint patties though so will be bookmarking this recipe for sure ;0)
    PS – great recipe for this month's challenge too!

  18. Mark Willis says

    Can you tell me where you can buy Congolese ant-flavoured sweets please (and don't say “in the Congo”)! 🙂
    I bet your peppermint patties wouldn't hang about very long in many offices…

  19. Jean says

    Oh these look lovely – I was about twelve the last time I made something like this….but yours are much neater and tidier !!

  20. little macaroon. says

    these look molar-wincingly good – I'm an avid fan of the Fry's peppermint cream, and I'm releived that this looks delicious and do-able (though in my opinion the Fry's chocolate cream in the blue wrapper wins by a nose, so if you could work out a recipe for that I'd be much obliged ;0)

  21. Ruth Ellis says

    We do this at my work too – and there have been some odd sweets on offer! Fry's Peppermint Creams are fantastic – and dairy free! They are my guilty pleasure – so these look yummy! And they remind me of making peppermint creams as a kid. Happy St Patrick's Day!

  22. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    Our office used to do this, to the point that when staff based in other parts of the country were instructed to bring local delicacies. I never liked Welsh cakes courtesy of the Cardiff office but looked forward greatly to visits from our Cumbria based officer who use to bring that wonderful gingerbread wrapped in blue and white paper, I can't remember what the place is called that makes it but it's like an iPhone sized sandy biscuit and they're the business.

    These Peppermint Patties (nice pun for Mar 17 btw) look so appealing, I do enjoy an After Eight as much as the next person but a confection with such a greater ratio of sticky minty bit versus chocolate has got to beat it!

  24. Lucy, Vanilla Frost says

    I have never heard of York Peppermint Patties, but like Choclette,am very familiar with peppermint creams from childhood. We used to make them at primary school to sell in the summer fair. These look very similar, and very tempting. Must ask Mum if she still has the recipe somewhere . . .

  26. The KitchenMaid says

    Rats! I was going to make peppermint creams too! Can you send me another idea now? Love it that the Viking communicates with you via the comments section, BTW, that's very modern.

  27. The KitchenMaid says

    Oh and I meant to say, we used to have that 'must bring back foreign sweets' thing too – they don't do it here which is a great shame (but then again, no one goes anywhere exciting, sob!)

  29. Jacqueline says

    We just call these peppermint creams. I remember the first time i made these was at primary school, where we had a teacher that liked to bake with us. We made these and truffles and our own cheese from our morning milk.

    I planned to make these in different flavours for Christmas gifts, even bought boxes and tissue to wrap them in, but ran out of time.

  30. Cupcake Crazy Gem says

    I loooove peppermint patties! and wish we had york ones here too! I love the fact you didn't dip them all the way so you could see that lovely green colour shining through, I want to reach through the screen and grab one! Choc & Mint is my all time favourite flavour combo too!

  32. Susan Lindquist says

    Peppermint patties! Oh Lord! These look divine! If I worked in a gym, I'd love the idea of the foreign goodies policy … but I don't.

    A girl can dream though!

  35. Javelin Warrior says

    Dom, I love York patties – but I always forget to specify these little devils at holiday times when the inlaws and parents REQUIRE a list of preferred candies. So this Easter, now I know what I'm asking for – so thank you! 😉

  37. Homeandfood says

    Ah, delicious! I love peppermint things like this – very delicious!
    Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe, I may well make them to serve as petit fours at my upcoming birthday dinner party 🙂