Good morning, kittens and dawgs! We’re on the home stretch till jolly ole Saint Nick shimmies down the chimney. I’m here to tell you this elf has been a busy girl.
Do you like York Peppermint Patties? That’s one of our favorites, but ever since Hershey sent production south of the border we no longer buy them. I say keep the money and the jobs in the USA. Shortly after last Christmas, I embarked upon a journey to find a recipe to meet our candy needs. If you have time to spare, then you might want to make your own homemade peppermint patties and this recipe is a good copycat of the original candies that DH cleverly renamed to Peppermint Cathys.
Peppermint Cathy’s from the kitchen of Curious as a Cathy
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- ¼ teaspoon + 3 drops LorAnn peppermint oil
- 2 tablespoons cream
- Chocoley Indulgence Ultra Couverture Semi-Sweet Dark Chocolate, Artisan Dipping & Enrobing Formula
*I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips in the past. It’s some of the best store-bought chocolate and I would use it again if needed. However, Chocoley is smoother tasting and is now my new preferred dipping chocolate.
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, butter, peppermint extract, and cream. Beat them with a paddle attachment until the mixture comes together; increase mixer speed to high and beat until the candy is light and creamy. Candy should be soft but not sticky. If it’s sticky, add a little more powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, until it’s no longer sticky. It should be very stiff, like Play-Doh. NOTE: This is what you want if you like the consistency of the classic York Peppermint Patties. Scrape the candy paste out onto a long piece of cling wrap, and form it into a thin tube, about 1 1/2″ (mine was a bit smaller) in diameter; using the same piece of plastic wrap twist or fold ends over to stay in place. This amount of candy mixture should make about a 10″ log.
An optional step and nice trick to keep your candy round on the bottom is to cut a slit in an old cardboard paper towel tube and put the candy inside. This will help keep the bottom from flattening as it sits in the refrigerator.
Chill the candy until it is very firm, about 45 minutes. Use a large sharp knife to slice firm patty Cathy rounds about ¼ inch thick. I think mine were thicker. I didn’t count, but I think my yield was about 2-dozen patties Cathys.
For the best way to melt Chocoley’s chocolate, I followed the website’s suggestions and I’m sure these methods may work for any chocolate. Use a fork or dipping tools to dip a patty Cathy completely into the melted coating, place fork or dipping tool under the candy to lift, allow excess to drain off, and then flip it upside down onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
Note: Until recently I always used a fork for this job and then I bought the Ateco 3-piece dipping tools and I went nuts over the 2-prong fork! It worked beautifully and made the job a lot easier.
Chill the Peppermint Cathys in the refrigerator until chocolate has hardened completely and if you’re impatient like me, then stick them in the freezer about 5-minutes. Allow the patties Cathys to come to room temperature for best taste, but they are pretty darn good straight out of the freezer. 😀
Have you ever wished you had a Christmas carols songbook? If so, I found a list of Christmas carols PDF, here for you to save and print. Do you take part in Christmas caroling presently or have you in the past? Would you like to see neighborhoods serenaded by carolers like olden days again or does your neighbor get them?
Now, enjoy the Peppermint Cathys recipe and songbook. You may want to come back on Thursday when I share a yummy Christmas Stollen recipe I made for the first time. Have a terrific day!
