The Sauce: Dipping Chocolate Sauce – Pure chocolate with an addition of a small amount of shortening to create sheen, this sauce is used for dipping chocolates. The trick is tempering the chocolate so once set it forms a hardened coating that snaps when you bite into it.
Double cool
Dollar theaters have a warm place in my heart. Don’t get me wrong, I love the stadium seating of modern theaters but I’ve enjoyed many a movie over the years at bargain prices. When I visit family and friends in Provo, Utah I like to take in a show at Cinemark 8 because the ticket price is a dollar but even better, they offer my favorite movie treat, Junior Mints.Maybe you can purchase Junior Mints at your local theater. But are they frozen? Cinemark 8 installed a small freezer behind the refreshment counter. You can buy a box at which ever temperature you prefer, off the shelf or from the freezer. Refreshing cool mint is extra breezy eaten frozen, double cool.
If you can’t go to Cinemark 8 in Provo, make these cool, fresh hand-dipped Peppermint Patties and serve chilled. The creamy white center is minty. It’s coated with a rich, high quality thick chocolate shell making this a gourmet confection. If you love the classic combination of chocolate and mint, you’re gonna want try these peppermint patties. Make them plain, pipe thin strings of mint white chocolate or serve a little of both.
This is part 4 of a 4 part series, ‘Chocolate Covered’. Part 1, Peanut Butter Balls. Part 2, Chocolate Hazelnut Squares. Part 3, Biscoff Cookie Butter Mounds. For more information about dipped chocolates, click here. You might also like Chocolate Truffles.
2011 AniversaRecipe – Ginger Limeade
Recipe: Peppermint Patties
Prep Time: 20 Minutes | Inactive Time: 1 hour | Cook Time: 3 Minutes | Yield: 48 Patties | Level: Moderate
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp peppermint extract, plus 1 drop
- 16 oz high quality dark chocolate
- 2 Tbsp shortening
- 2 oz high quality white chocolate, finely chopped
- few drops of green food coloring
Special Equipment – heat proof bowl
Instructions
1 Using a paddle attachment, combine sweetened condensed milk, 2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon peppermint extract in a mixing bowl.
2 Add remaining powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time blending well after each addition. Mixture should be stiff but pliable. Place in an airtight container and chill for 30 minutes.
3 Scoop 2 teaspoons of dough and roll into a ball. Press into a flattened disk and place on a baking sheet or tray lined with wax paper or parchment. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4 Melt the dark chocolate and shortening in a heat proof bowl perched over a saucepan with simmering water until most of the chocolate is liquid. Make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Take the bowl off the heat and continue stirring until the residual heat melts the remainder of the lumps. (See note below about tempering.)
5 Take the peppermint disks out of the fridge. Using a fork, dip each one in the dipping chocolate sauce allowing the excess chocolate to drip off and place back on the baking sheet. Place in the fridge to set.
6 Melt the white chocolate 10-15 second increments in a small bowl until most of it is liquid. Stir the chocolate until the balance of the chocolate is melted. Add a drop of peppermint and enough drops of food coloring to make a medium green.
7 In a decorating bag with a fine round tip (#2) or in a plastic bag with a small corner clipped, pipe threads of green chocolate on the top of the chocolate dipped peppermint patties.
8 Place in the fridge and serve chilled or at room temperature.
Information
Notes
Tempering chocolate prevents the melted chocolate from becoming too hot. Place the chocolate over simmering water ensuring the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Heat until most of the chocolate is melted but there are still bits or small lumps of chocolate in the bowl. Take the bowl off the heat and continue to stir allowing the residual heat to melt the small lumps which, at the same time, reduces the temperature of the melted chocolate. This prevents the chocolate from getting too hot.
Once the chocolate is melted, pour it in a small bowl which will make the chocolate deep enough to dunk and coat the peppermint patties.
Applications
Serve on a plate of assorted hand-dipped chocolates such as Peanut Butter Balls, 
Chocolate Hazelnut Squares, and Biscoff Cookie Butter Squares along with Chocolate Truffles.
When dipping if there is any leftover chocolate sauce, grab some plastic spoons, dip and decorate for hot chocolate stirring spoons.
Dish Designer
- Make small peppermint drops and coat with chocolate for homemade chocolate peppermint drops.
Inspiration – SavorySweetLife.com
SaucyCuisine.com
Cook with Sauces
Written by Helen Horton
Photographs by Helen Horton
Updated: December 16, 2012
These are great because they taste fresh and fun. The advantages of making them are that you can make the center thicker for more fresh mint taste and the chocolate tastes so much better than the ones you buy in the store because it is higher quality. You’ll really like these if you like peppermint patties.
Besides the high quality chocolate, you can make the coating a little thicker. Yum!!