The reality I live with is that I am not such a good baker. I have said it before and I will say it again. I just don't bake well. I try, I try really hard. I am just a cook at heart and so for me the holidays are filled with making goodies that I don't really have to bake! Some of my fabulous foodie friends bake exquisite goods and desserts. I envy them all! I do things mostly that are no bake, or assembled things! I can make a mean ganache, and some out of this world pastry cream, and I can dip like no dipper ever dreamed of dipping!
I am obsessed with ugly cookie trays. Haven't you gotten these before? The ALL BROWN, dry, mostly broken up mystery cookies?!?! Yuck! No merriment at all behind one of those things!
My husband is a huge peppermint patty fan. I am not. As usual, being a wife, we find ourselves making what everyone else wants, don't we? We do it with a loving heart and all that crazy stuff, *isn't that what I was supposed to say??* hehe. So I found a recipe from allrecipes.com. I hope you try these, they are so simple it seems like your not baking at all. Oh yea...your NOT! Though the inside texture IS a bit different than a peppermint patty, my picky, opinionated husband, has given it the thumbs up all around. The recipe calls for these to be dipped in dark chocolate. I hate dark chocolate so I used chocolate almond bark, or you could use semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips.
1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
4-6 cups of powdered sugar aka icing sugar (calls for 6, I only managed to get 4 in)
1 tbsp peppermint extract (my husband says it needed another tsp) go with what you like
24 ounces of melted chocolate
Combine condensed milk, and peppermint extract. Add in powdered sugar in 1 cup increments. Although the recipe calls for 6 cups, I only could get 4 cups in. At that point it was a little dry so I did add a few teaspoons of water to bring things back together properly. Combine it using your hands if necessary into a large ball. Pull off bits of dough as big as you like, roll into a ball, place on parchment or sil pat lined cookie sheet and using 2 fingers flatten into the shape of a peppermint patty. Do this with all the dough, it will make alot! Let sit for 2 hours and dry. Flip over and let sit for another hour. I let them sit overnight, so the time is really flexible. Melt chocolate, and using a fork, dip each one and place back on parchment. The faster you move with this the better it goes. Freeze or refrigerate for 2 hours and then place in Ziploc for storage until you are ready to use!
Get your children in the kitchen, or call a friend, making these balls might seem like it takes forever without help and company! I hope you love them as much as my husband does. Need to go hide those puppies right now!
Your "peppermint patty party starter" chefwannabe
Chris
I really like your recipe. It is much easier than the one I'm currently using. This is my first visit to your blog so I took some time to browse through your earlier posts. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you share with your readers and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about doing this one with my girls. Probably going to make the dough red and green though. More festive.
ReplyDeletePerfect Jessica! Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!
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