Archive for: peppermint
Around Christmas time, I tend to have a surplus of peppermint candy canes lying around. They also last well into the new year because they keep very well (and go on sale after the holidays!). I like this about candy canes because if you’re a fan of peppermint, they make fantastic coffee stirs and it’s nice to have them around to infuse a little flavor into an otherwise plain cup of coffee.
This Double Chocolate Peppermint Mocha – inspired by the various peppermint-infused drinks I’ve had from coffee shops this season – is far from plain, however. It is a rich, creamy hot chocolate made with both dark and white chocolate. Milky white chocolate really adds a creaminess to the drink, while the dark chocolate makes for a very deep chocolate flavor. Truthfully, I rarely measure out any of the ingredients when I’m going to make up a batch of this drink. I just add a bit of white chocolate, a bit of dark chocolate and add more if I feel I need to. I recommend adopting the same strategy so you can make this at a moment’s notice, but use the recipe below as a jumping off point. Don’t forget to use the candy cane as a stirring stick to really infuse that peppermint flavor. It also adds some extra sweetness to the mocha, and most candy canes have a better flavor than simply adding in peppermint extract.
I garnish this with whipped cream and crushed peppermint, but a candy cane alone is a nice touch. A mini candy cane makes a cute garnish as well, especially if you want to double or triple the recipe for a bigger crowd.
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Ever since I first started making homemade marshmallows with a Thomas Keller recipe a few years ago, I’ve been hooked. I can’t count the batches of marshmallows I’ve made or the cups of hot chocolate that I’ve dunked them in. Plain vanilla is unquestionably my favorite, but even a marshmallow-lover like myself gets a little bored once in a while. It didn’t take me long to start to experiment with different marshmallow flavors and, after my less-than-satisfying experience with the Trader Joe’s peppermint marshmallows that I tried earlier this month, I thought I would share my own formula for peppermint marshmallows.
These ‘mallows have a much subtler mint flavor than the TJ’s versions, and have the light and fluffy texture that you would expect to find in a top marshmallow. The vanilla mellows the mint flavor somewhat and gives the whole confection a very well-rounded taste. I like them plain and love them in hot chocolate.
If you prefer a stronger mint flavor – in other words, if you want something really intense – feel free to increase the amount of peppermint extract by a half teaspoon or so. Keep in mind, however, that a little mint extract (much like almond extract) goes a long way. To really punch up hot chocolate with mint, I’d stick with a milder marshmallow and add in a shot of peppermint schnapps or simply stir it with a peppermint stick.
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I love marshmallow creme and fluffy, fresh jet-puffed marshmallows in both jumbo and mini sizes, but I am incredibly picky about “gourmet” marshmallows. Does that make me a marshmallow snob, or just a connoisseur? These high-priced marshmallows have been becoming more and more common over the past couple of holiday seasons and are now appearing in more places and flavors than ever before. Picky though I am, I almost always try gourmet marshmallows when I see them. Natually, when I found out taht Trader Joe’s just introduced their own gourmet Peppermint Marshmallows, I had to pick up a box.
The mallows had an odd pink color running through them to look like a swirl of mint, but the smell coming from the box was quite strong and I doubt there would be any mistaking the flavor of these sweets. I popped a whole one into my mouth. The mint was strong and, unfortunately, not at all pleasant. That first marshmallow was so overwhelmingly minty that I actually couldn’t finish it. The next day, I tried again and found that while the precise amount of mint flavor seemed to vary slightly by individual marsmallow, just about all were over-the-top minty.
As much as I love mint, I’m just not a big fan of these even though I had high hopes for the product. TJ’s suggests serving the marshmallows with hot chocolate and I think that would be a far better application for these than trying to eat them straight. The mintiness would be mellowed by a strong chocolate flavor and, of course, chocolate and mint are an excellent combination in general.
For now, I’ll be sticking with my own homemade marshmallows, in either the original formulation or my peppermint variation if I want a mint fix.
Fudgy. Rich. Intense. Chocolaty. Pepperminty. Amazing.
All of these words are ones that I would use to describe these Peppermint Cookies n’ Cream Brownies, which just might be my favorite brownies to date. The response to them in general (as soon as my unofficial tasters no longer had their mouths stuffed full of brownie) was “oh my god.” They had a fantastic balance between being fudgy and chewy. Not overly wet or undercooked, the brownies held their shape very well and were still very moist with a nice chew that meant you could savor each piece slowly as you ate.
The brownies were inspired by a box of seasonal Peppermint Jo-Jo’s – the Trader Joe’s version of Oreo cookies – that I bought last week. The cookies are great on their own, with just the right amount of mint filling to balance the chocolaty wafer. They taste kind of like a high-quality thin mint cookie (but better, in my opinion). That flavor came through very well into the finished brownie, giving the treat a refreshing hit of mint that prevented the chocolate flavor from getting too intense.
I added the cookies into the brownies as though they were chocolate chips, roughly chopping them first with a large kitchen knife to get them down into a manageable size. Some pieces were a bit larger than others, but just about every part of the cookie melted slightly into the brownies. I also garnished the top with a sprinkle of crumbs, so that it was easy to see what kind of brownies these were from a glance, but this is entirely optional. The peppermint flavor will b a surprise whether your cookies are garnished or not since it is so unexpected. If you don’t have access to peppermint Oreo-type cookies, use plain Oreos and add a teaspoon of peppermint extract to your batter. Alternatively, you should be able to use other chocolate/peppermint cookies, such as Thin Mints, as a substitution.
Cut these into small pieces, as they are big and rich. Take them to a holiday party or other gathering where there will be lots of people to share them with, too, or risk being tempted to eat them all yourself.
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Over the holidays, I found myself with the need to make a dessert for some guests – surprise, surprise, right? I somehow got it into my head that a bundt cake would look good, not to mention that since these guests happened to be family members, I didn’t feel the need to go over-the-top and made an especially elaborate dessert. I wanted something that would go well with a bit of cofee.
My first inclination was to make the pear cake yet again, but I ultimately decided that the inclusion of chocolate into my dessert would probably make it more appealing to everyone. So after much deliberation and a few twists, I arrived at a double chocolate peppermint cake. The cake is a black and white swirl bundt that uses melted bittersweet chocolate in the black layer and melted white chocolate in the white layer. I spiked only the white layer with some peppermint extract, which added a lovely flavor without being too overwhelming, since it was tempered by both the plain chocolate cake and the chocolate chips that I stirred in to both batters before baking.
The swirl in the cake was self-made, by which I mean that I simply layered one batter on top of the other. The lower layer, the chocolate batter, rose up around the white batter because of the way the cake cooks in the oven, creating a gorgeous swirl without the need to force the different batters to “marble.”
The finished cake was moist and minty, with a good hint of chocolate that could be emphasized even more if you add a chocolate glaze, rather than a simply dusting of powdered sugar. It was substantial, but neither as heavy nor as dense as a pound cake. It went beautifully with coffee and even better with hot chocolate.
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