Peppermint Snap

I was inspired to make Peppermint Snap this weekend – probably because James Martin brought it up on Saturday Kitchen. I almost always manage to miss SK for some reason or other – being asleep (yes, I know it starts at 10am!), having to get up early to taxi Al to some competition or other, visiting – and it also seems to be one of the most interrupted programs on TV – you would think that people didn’t care about it – like it wasn’t the long running show with nearly 3 million viewers that it is. I often find it replaced, or bumped to a slot where I can’t watch it by, let’s face it, normally sports. TSK!!!

Anyway, I always make Peppermint Snap at Christmas, mostly because its relatively cheap and can be made easily and in bulk – for a quick and easy version see James Martin – this is a good one for making with kids – but if you have a little time on your hands try mine : )

Also worth a look is this great recipe from Barefoot and Baking – which is exceedingly Christmassy and a dead ringer for my mum’s Peppermint Bark.

You will need:

2 bars Dark chocolate (70% coco solids minimum recommended)

1 bar white chocolate (that’s about 3 milky bars)

Peppermint essence

Sugar (couple of tablespoons, it goes a long way) – not icing sugar! Castor sugar or cane sugar is probably best.

Baking tin (or a funny shaped muffin tin – I used a heart shaped muff

in tin)

Optional:

Green food colouring

Mint imperials (I buy cheeper store’s own brand ones because they tend to be a bit smaller)

Edible glitter (a nice contrasting colour? Pink or red)

Cake decorating bits (like those little silver balls? Or the tiny spiky icing balls?)

Makes – well it depends on the person really, we are talking about 3 bars of chocolate, but then it is very moreish…

Directions:

Put your sugar in a bowl and add a few drops of peppermint essence to taste, and then 1 or 2 drops of the food colouring if you are using it. At this point I also add the mint imperials – I leave some whole and smash a couple up in a bag and put them in too. Mix around until everything is minty and green – it will be fairly obvious at this point if you haven’t added enough colouring or essence, but remember you can’t take it out again once it’s in!

Next melt both your chocolates in separate bowls. You can use either the traditional Bain

Marie or the more new-fangled ‘put the bowl in the microwave’ method – but REMEMBER the bowl gets HOT either way!!

Time for the fun bit! Gather all your bits together – some recipes call for lining the baking tin – and this is a MUST unless you are using silicone. Basically it will just never come out otherwise!!

I usually start with the dark chocolate, I have a notion that it sets harder – but it’s probably all in my head!

For a LINED baking sheet, spoon the chocolate over the bottom and spread it out with the back of a spoon. Then drizzle over the white – lines and splodges are best! If you feel it isn’t messy enough trail through it in diagonal lines or a spiral with a cocktail stick to make it pretty! You could even do this for a Halloween party and do it in a spider web pattern! Then sprinkle on all your bits – I probably do go overboard with this – mine usually ends up looking like Christmas EXPLODED on it : )

If you are using some sort of silicone moulds you don’t ne

ed to line it! But you are working with basically the same process. Alternate spoonfuls of chocolate of different colours into the moulds then cover with SUGAR etc – these are some that I made recently – I only used the sugar and mint imperials this time because I was in a bit of a rush – but they are still really pretty!!

Pop your tin into the fridge for a few hours to set – if you are using moulds you can just pop them out again once they’re hard – if you have used a baking sheet you will need to take the whole block of chocolate out and SMASH IT!!!! Seriously, you will want bite sized pieces – not bars of chocolate. I find that once chocolate has been melted that it always melts again much easier – so I keep these in the fridge, definitely no storing them under the tree on the heated floor!