St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Patties

I don't know why but my Alice in Wonderland tea cup makes me so happy, and I don't even drink tea.

  You know, there are just some foods that I love, some I hate and some that are just okay. This right here people; it's one of the good ones. I could eat these until I am sick. And shamefully I have, more than once. I know my sugar tolerance, and I know eating more than one of these will make me sorry, but it takes all I have to only eat one. I bet you will have the same problem too.

So to deal with this problem, I have come up with a very serious plan of action. It entails many steps to ensure that I only eat one at a time. So this may be helpful to you too. Firstly, I only make these vary rarely, that ensures that the temptation is minimal. Then if I do make them, they are given away mostly. Then if I was dumb enough to save some for myself, I put them in containers and freeze them. This usually means I either put them in the basement freezer, and I am too lazy to go get them one at a time. Or I forget they are in the freezer and don't want them. Although that last point is pretty stupid, I mean I know they are there, it is just an excuse.

That right there is the makings of a beautiful patty.  

Anyway, please ignore my rambling, I just ate one and my mind is full of sugar, and thoughts of more. I shouldn't point out that it is only 8:30am while I am writing this, that would make me look bad. So just try to imagine it is late at night, I have had a good diner and just finished working out ( even I laugh at that) and I just rewarded myself with one patty, just one. I will let you decide if I need help or not, I already know I have issues.

  So I know I posted these before here.  And you can check it out there and see how one of my earlier posts turned out.  I have not gotten any better at picture taking, but man I have props now.  Those holiday sprinkles, they sell it.  Trust me, put a sprinkle on it and people will want it.  Or at least I will.

 To make these, you just need a few things.  The only thing I changed about this batch is I added a little green food colouring to Irish it up.  Because if it's green, it totally becomes a St. Patrick's day patty.  I know, I am a genius!  Also, I did not make this recipe up, but I did add the food colouring, so you could say I did invent it.  Or not.  You can totally find this on I am Baker, which I linked in my original post.  But the green patty, that is all me baby!  I should patent that!

Patent Pending!

 St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Patties
Adapted from I am Baker

-1 can sweetened condensed milk *
-1 TBSP peppermint extract**
-green food colouring, as much or as little as you want
-5 cups +/- icing sugar


* there are some great recipes on line now to make your own home made, so I will have to try that when I run out, also the cans are much smaller here in Canada, so you may want to add a tiny bit more peppermint extract if you have a can larger than 8oz
**make sure you use peppermint extract, if you try just mint or another kind, this will turn the patty into a toothpaste flavoured patty, and no one wants that.  Unless you like eating toothpaste, then by all means go ahead ( and if you like eating toothpaste, you are not alone, as a kid I would put too much on my brush so I could eat it, sorry Mom)


  So I just put the milk, peppermint extract and a few drops of colour into my mixing bowl and start mixing.  Then just add the icing sugar a bit at a time and mix until it is as firm as you want it.  I think that if you do it by hand or with a hand held mixer the chances are your mixture will not be as thick.  I use my kitchen aid and it gets to the point where the motor is really working hard to mix it.  Even then, my dough doesn't hold it's shape fully.

 Once you are done mixing, shape your dough however you like.  I usually use a cookie scoop.  I love to have a thick patty, because to me more is better.  But you can make them thinner, or roll by hand.  Whatever you like, just do it!  For these I scooped my patties out onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and spaced them out.  They settle a bit to make them a little flatter,but if you want them even flatter just pat them down.  And always work on wax or parchment paper, this stuff will stick to your pans, your hands and your scoop.  But I found the thicker the dough, the less trouble you have with sticking.

Little green globs, not so appealing really.  That is why you need chocolate.

  So once scooped, put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes, if you leave them too long they will get too hard and cause cracks in your chocolate when dipping.

  When ready melt your chocolate, or like me your candy melts and thin them a bit with paraffin crystals.  If you don't have that you can use a little shortening.

  Only take out a few at a time as they thaw out really fast.  Just dip your patty then put a sprinkle on top. If you prefer not to use sprinkles you can just dip then leave them, or go back and drizzle a contrasting colour of candy melts.  I was feeling really lazy and had these super cute shamrock sprinkles, so I had to use them.  I love sprinkles, you may as well know that, I may be obsessed.

They sort of look weird here, but they taste good, I promise.

   So once you are done you can leave them at room temperature, or the way I like them, I keep them in the fridge.  I like them frozen too.  So you know, try it out, either way, they are good!

Ohhhh, Ahhhh, "look at her amazing photography skills!"

I know, but at least "someone" loves my pics right?

I'm linking up here