When Christmas starts rolling in, my little foodie self always thinks of being drunk on cookies, gingerbread men/women and of course anything and everything peppermint. So in true Christmasy fashion I present… Homemade Peppermint Patties. Oooo baby!
I don’t know what it is about peppermint patties, but that chilly arctic blast that comes from biting into one makes everything disappear for just a moment. Logan refers to it as a breeze in your mouth. Erm… okay Logan.
What I love about these patties:
I had/have all the ingredients on hand.
There’s no “junk” in them.
They taste clean and healthy.
There’s only seven total ingredients.
They are pretty dang easy to make.
And they taste like a freaking peppermint patty!
Now when I say easy I mean the only thing easier is pouring yourself a drink. Unless you are my size and trying to man handle a two liter and you suddenly look six years old again. But otherwise yeah they are super easy.
If you aren’t operating with a super high powered ultra fabulous blender or food processor (I’m not) you want to soak your cashews overnight. This will make them easier to blend smoothly. I just set mine on the counter in a bowl filled with water and let them do their thing. If you have a fabulous food crusher then soaking them for a couple hours should be sufficient. But you can always soak longer and be alright. Under-soaking now that’s a problem. So for a more guaranteed smoothness I’d go for an overnight soak.
Once your cashews are soaked and ready to go, it’s a wham bam and your on your way to peppermint patty heaven. Which eludes to blending all ingredients (minus chocolate) in the blender/food processor. See wham bam! I then place my minty goodness into a lidded bowl and let it chill in the refrigerator to harden. This making it easier to form the filling into patties. It should only need about an hour of fridge time. Or you can be like me and go merrily off to watch The Voice and then return to patty making afterwards. What it was Monday.
If you aren’t operating with a super high powered ultra fabulous blender or food processor (I’m not) you want to soak your cashews overnight. This will make them easier to blend smoothly. I just set mine on the counter in a bowl filled with water and let them do their thing. If you have a fabulous food crusher then soaking them for a couple hours should be sufficient. But you can always soak longer and be alright. Under-soaking now that’s a problem. So for a more guaranteed smoothness I’d go for an overnight soak.
Once your cashews are soaked and ready to go, it’s a wham bam and your on your way to peppermint patty heaven. Which eludes to blending all ingredients (minus chocolate) in the blender/food processor. See wham bam! I then place my minty goodness into a lidded bowl and let it chill in the refrigerator to harden. This making it easier to form the filling into patties. It should only need about an hour of fridge time. Or you can be like me and go merrily off to watch The Voice and then return to patty making afterwards. What it was Monday.
Now the trick with dipping is to drop one patty in at time, flip it over quickly, and pull it right back out. You can then give it a little shake to get rid of the excess chocolate. The heat can make the patties fall apart and in turn make them and your chocolate look rather unflattering and mess the entire batch up. So drop, flip, remove. Some people use a spoon to do this, I’ve always opted for a fork. Using a fork lets you shake off any extra chocolate so the patties aren’t sitting in a puddle and instead are perfectly coated.
Once all the patties are dipped, flipped and happy – let them harden in the fridge or freezer (for the impatients), and you are ready to eat more peppermint patties than is considered socially acceptable. I’ve made three batches in the last week… for taste testing purposes only of course.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/3 cup raw cashews, soaked*
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut or almond milk
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 5 ounces dark chocolate (vegan if desired)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Directions:
Place shredded coconut, soaked cashews, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut milk and peppermint extract into a high speed blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth, this can take 2-3 minutes depending on blender/processor. Transfer mint filling into a lidded bowl and refrigerate until hardened, about one hour.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out a 1/2 tablespoon of chilled filling and place dome side up in your palm. With your other palm, slightly press down to form a patty. Set the patty on the lined baking sheet and continue until all of the filling has been used to form patties. Place baking sheet into the freezer.
Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler. Once chocolate is melted and smooth remove patties from freezer. Using a fork, one at a time drop a patty into the chocolate. Quickly flip the patty over, and lightly shake any excess chocolate off. Set dipped patty back onto baking sheet where it came from. Repeat with each patty until all have been coated in chocolate.
Once all patties are coated, place the baking sheet into freezer one last time to harden and let the chocolate coating set, approximately 10 minutes.
Store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to devour.
NOTES:
*To soak cashews, place them into a bowl and cover them with water. For best results soak overnight. If using a high speed blender or food processor you can attempt to use after a few hours, but I would encourage soaking overnight for optimum smoothness. It’s super important to be quick when dipping patties into chocolate. Otherwise the patty can break apart into the chocolate and it’s just bad news.
