Peppermint Patties

By mariannefeldman

From Amy: 2008: she used 70% Ghirardelli chocolate & tempered chocolate rather than adding shortening
DIY Peppermint Patties
Un-Gift Guide 2008
The preparation time is only thirty minutes.

If you plan to give these out as gifts, you can wrap them individually or put them in handmade candy gift bags.
Recipe Review, Easy, Candy, D.I.Y. Recipe, Sustainable, candymaking, peppermint patties, Un-Gift Guide 2008

Try this. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Peppermint-Patties-240935

To avoid using shortening:
Traditionally, these are made with poured fondant, which is a b***h to make by hand, but apparently pretty easy in a food processor. Assuming you're not afraid of sugar syrup, of course. I made them once with fresh mint leaves (steep in sugar syrup, then bring syrup back up to temp, before throwing it in the processor) and no other peppermint patty has ever come close. If people want to make a patty they don't need to refrigerate and they have a food processor, they should give it a whirl (so to speak).

The way around using shortening (which I personally find really nasty, but a lot of people don't mind at all) is to learn to temper chocolate. Tempering scares the heck out of people, mostly because instructions online always go on and on about hitting exact temperatures, etc. Completely unnecessary. Here's how we did it in culinary school, no thermometer required:
Chop chocolate.
Melt 2/3s of the chocolate over hot water (or in a microwave if you prefer that). Remove from heat.
Throw a little less than the remaining third of chocolate into the bowl. Stir. Stir some more. Keep stirring. Is the bottom of the bowl warm? Keep stirring. Cool, now? Good. Test to see if your chocolate is in temper.
THIS is the only real trick to tempering - know when it's tempered.
Take a metal spoon. Dip the tip into the chocolate. Set aside. Touch it after about one minute. Has it already started to firm up? If it's still completely fluid, it's not tempered. But if it's firming up, just tacky on the top, you're in business. Stir another minute or so just to ensure that all the chocolate is ready, and dip away. Your chocolate will be in temper, which means that it will be as shiny as the chocolates in the store, and it will set up firm, not sort of fudgey.

A couple extra hints - if your chocolate starts to get too cold, you can warm it up, but you still should stir away and check to make sure you didn't lose temper. If your chocolate is so hot that all the chopped chocolate melts completely before everything hits temper, you can add a little of the remaining chopped chocolate (that's why you hold some back). Also, always temper more chocolate that it seems like you're going to need, because proper dipping requires a pool to dip into.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1.5 tbsp softened butter
• 2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cream
• 8 ounces (about 1-1/3 cup) dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tbsp vegetable shortening

Details

Servings 1

Preparation

Step 1

Preparation:
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or a silpat. In a blender, cream together the sugar, butter, extracts, and cream on low speed. After the ingredients are combined, raise the speed to medium-high and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes until mixture holds together very well and is creamy, not powdery.
Using a teaspoon, roll the candy into small balls and flatten them on the wax paper or silpat with the palm of your hand into patty shapes. When done, put them in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the chopped chocolate and the shortening in the microwave or over a double boiler.
Using dipping tools or two dinner forks, dip the patties into the chocolate one by one. Drag them across the lip of the bowl to remove any excess chocolate. Return them to the wax paper or silpat, and place back in the refrigerator to set the candies. They should be ready to eat in a few hours.
And that's it! Due to the dairy ingredient, these need to be kept in the refrigerator. Layer the patties between sheets of parchment in an airtight container. They'll last for a month.