Merry Mints

I was given little cookie cutters several years ago, that I have never used for cookies.  Last year, I had the thought of using them as chocolate molds.  I did a little research, because I was worried that, given there was nothing to secure the melted chocolate, it would all seep out from underneath.  As long as I hold the cookie cutters in place as I put the first layer of chocolate in, it works!!!

It’s important that you use a good chocolate for this.  After all, it is the only ingredient, minus the peppermint.  I used Lindt chocolate.

Speaking of peppermint, it is (also) important.  You can certainly use peppermint extract, but if you can get to your local cake decorating store, they will carry what you need. Peppermint oil.

You do not need to add much of this stuff to get the right amount of mint in your chocolate.  For 4 bars of white chocolate, I used 6 drops.  Also, I only added mint to the white chocolate, and left the milk chocolate alone.  I add crushed candy cane on top of the chocolate, so between that and the mint in one of the chocolates, it’s enough!

Here’s a breakdown of what I did:

To get started, get your candy canes ready. I wish I had taken an after pic of these suckers.  No pun intended!  Just bash them babies up small enough that the chunks aren’t too big.

Picture a bottle of melted milk chocolate in a similar bottle.  Oops!

FYI….I melted the chocolate, slowly, in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, until melted) and then transferred the chocolate into these bottles.  So easy!

I dipped the cookie cutters in oil before I put the chocolate into them, so that they would release more easily once frozen.

After dipping cookie cutters into oil, fill them up halfway with chocolate, and put them into the freezer to set.  About 5-10 minutes.  You’ll notice the ripples in the chocolate in this picture.  You can bang those out if you want to, but its only the first layer, so it’s no big deal.

Second layer! Bang the ripples out now!

Finish second layer with candy cane and put back into freezer to set.

Ta-da!  So good!  Try them!

(Source: Boss of the Apple Sauce)