Peppermint creams are a true classic. Many of us will have memories of making these sweets at school!

Does anyone else remember making peppermint creams at school? I think we also had to make little boxes to put them in.

You can see why it’s a great recipe for kids: only three ingredients (with green colouring and chocolate topping as optional extras) and no baking required.

Ingredients (these quantities will make as few as 20 and up to 40 peppermint creams depending on how big you make them)

• 300 g / 10.5 oz icing sugar, sieved
• 1 egg white (medium or large egg)
• 0.25 tsp peppermint essence
• Optional: green food colouring, a few drops
• Optional: 50 g / 1.8 oz dark chocolate for decorative drizzle

Method

Sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl. Beat the egg white a little and then pour into the icing sugar. Add the peppermint essence and stir the mixture until you have a soft ball of dough. If you’d like the peppermint creams to be green, add a few drops of green food colouring and stir through until the colour is evenly distributed – but be aware this will be difficult to do by hand and you may prefer to make the dough in an electric mixer if you want to colour it.

Prepare your surface for working with the dough. Put a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a chopping board or a baking tray. This will make it easier to transfer the peppermint creams to the fridge when you’ve finished shaping them.

Divide the dough into a number of small balls. You can weigh them if you need them to be exactly the same size. Press the balls gently to flatten then a little. Don’t overdo this as they tend to spread and sink a little on their own.

When you have all your peppermint creams rolled and pressed, pop the tray in the fridge for 2-4 hours to let them set. As you can see from this picture, I made a range of sizes:

Once firm, remove the peppermint creams from the fridge and drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Break or chop your chocolate into small pieces and melt either by using the microwave (1 minute, stir and then additional 20 second bursts with stirring in between) or by putting it in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. I just scooped up a spoonful of chocolate and let it run off while moving the spoon quickly over the tray of peppermint creams, but you can put the melted chocolate into a piping bag if you want your drizzle to be more precise.

Put the peppermint creams back in the fridge for about an hour to allow the chocolate to set.

The peppermint creams will keep for up to 2 months if you store them in an airtight container and a dry, cool place. I kept them in the fridge.

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Looking for some more homemade confectionary ideas? Try these!

 

Easy peanut butter and caramel fudge.

 

 

 

 

Rainbow chocolate truffles.

 

 

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Claire Huston / Art and Soul

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