Vegan Peppermint Patties

food gifts are the best gifts.
DIY Dark Chocolate Peppermint Patties.

Processed peppermint patty filling, ready to be formed.

Ok, I'm not gonna sugar-coat it (badum bum), these might get you in a little trouble. You may find yourself lying on the couch, face and hands covered in chocolate, cursing the day you first decided that they would make fantastic and (theoretically) easy Christmas gifts. Or, if you're more responsible and more time-management focused than I, you may just have a delightfully relaxing day putting these treats together. Learn from my mistakes, kiddos. Don't try to prep, dip, individually wrap and box up two hundred and fifteen of these in one day. My hands might be permanently claw-shaped from so much teeny tiny wrapping. But still, worth it. These mints are GOOD, (relatively) easy to prepare, and are sure to make you the king/ queen of holiday food gifts. 

They're such a hit with my friends and family 

that people start asking me about next year's batch right around January first. 

But, as much as they may beg, I make them but once a year.

First rule of show business (or peppermint patty making), 

gotta keep 'em wanting more. 

Now, this recipe is for a large batch. If you make small patties (about teaspoon sized) it will make between 60-70. You can easily halve the recipe, but I encourage you to make the full batch. You'll already be putting in the work, so why not make more? You can vary the size of the patties a bit, though if you go too big they can become a bit unwieldy. I like to make mine small, about 1/2" across;

 I find the filling holds together perfectly at this size. 

These keep super well in the fridge and also freeze beautifully. 

Formed and frozen peppermint patty filling, ready to be dipped.

 So here we go:

Vegan Dark Chocolate Peppermint Patties

( makes approximately 60-70 small patties)

First batch of finished mints, only 200 more to go.

You will need a food processor and a double boiler

set-up on your stove top for this recipe.

Ingredients:
6c organic powdered sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2Tbsp room temperature coconut oil

2tbsp peppermint extract

2tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup light (unsweetened) coconut milk

4 cups (2 12oz bags) vegan dark chocolate chips

What a mess.

To prepare the filling:

Combine sugar, 1/4c coconut oil, coconut milk and extracts in the food processor.

Mix until ingredients have combined to form a well incorporated paste.

The mixture should look like the photo above.

Scrape filling out of food processor and into a medium sized bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

Once the filling is chilled:

Remove from fridge and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Measure out a teaspoon sized ball of filling and roll into a ball in your hands. 

Place the ball on mat and gently flatten with two fingers.

Repeat until you have filled your cookie sheets. 

Place filled cookie sheets in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

If you find that the filling is becoming sticky and hard to work with,

place it back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. 

When your filling is nearly chilled, set up a double boiler on your stove top.

Bring water to a slight simmer over medium high heat.

Add chocolate chips and 2Tbsp coconut oil, stirring until melted.

Remove frozen fillings from the freezer and loosen them from the trays.

They should be solidly frozen enough to easily pop off.

Dipping your mints:
Dip a dinner fork into the melted chocolate to coat the tines.
Place a frozen filling disc on top of the coated fork.
Dip completely into the melted chocolate, coating the disc.
Allow the excess chocolate to drip off, then drag the fork
over the edge of the bowl, removing the rest of the chocolate.

Use another fork or knife to gently slide your coated mint off of
the dipping fork and back onto the silpat.
Repeat this process with all mint fillings,
then return dipped mints to the freezer to set up.
If you find that your un-dipped fillings are becoming too soft to work with,
return them to the freezer to re-freeze.

Once your dipped mints have set up (10-15 minutes in the freezer)
remove them from the silpats and package however you'd like.
I find that, if giving them as gifts, individually wrapping them makes for both
neater storage and better presentation.
Just pick up some baker's paper or parchment and cut it to the appropriate size.
Because there is no dairy these can be stored at room temperature,
but also keep very well in the fridge or freezer.

Now go make some and impress all your friends!

This is the best part.
My hand should uncramp any day now...