12 Sweets of Christmas: #1 - Peppermint Patties

Quite a few years ago, and I really can't remember when, I came up with the crazy idea of not just making one or two different kinds of cookies or candies to give away during the Christmas season, but to make 12 different varieties, now known as the "12 Sweets of Christmas".  Once Thanksgiving had ended and the tree had been put up I begin the monumental task of mixing, baking, dipping and wrapping up the 12 goodies into tins to give as gifts to family and friends.  Sometimes I wonder what I have gotten myself into, but everyone seems to love my tins packed full of goodies and I think I would have a revolt on my hands if I failed to follow through on my yearly tradition.  

This year I figured I would share all my recipes and photos of each of the sweets and here is the first one.

#1 Peppermint Patties

Most of the cookies and candies I make are the same each year, but I always try to add at least one new item and this year I decided to make peppermint patties.  My mother is an addict to the York Peppermint Patty and when I found this recipe on Allrecipes I knew I had to try it.  I did make a few changes though.  I refuse to let anything go to waste and the recipe called for slightly less than one can of sweetened condensed milk - I used the entire can.  Plus, I didn't feel like dipping the patties in chocolate and when I came across shewearsmanyhats.com  while browsing through Pinterest I knew I had found the solution.  

My Recipe for Peppermint Patties:
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 t. Peppermint Extract
5+ C. of Powdered Sugar
1 Pkg. Chocolate Chips, melted

Mix up the condensed milk, peppermint extract and powdered sugar.  

As you can see in the picture above the "dough" was extremely sticky and so I kept adding powdered sugar until I could form it into balls without it sticking all over my hands.

Here is the finished product.  I let it sit in the fridge a bit too before I began making the patties.

I rolled the dough into balls, placed them on pans lined with wax paper and then made an indent with my fingertips.  This way I could pour the chocolate directly onto them and not have to spend time dipping each one.

My 5 month old puppy, Gimlé, fell asleep waiting in vane for me to drop some goodies on the floor.  Poor boy, he never did get anything.

There was enough of the dough to make two full jelly roll pans of patties.

Lastly, I melted chocolate chips in the microwave.  I did not have any shortening or canning wax* to thin the chocolate and so it was tough going trying to pour the chocolate into the small patties.  

They are not as pretty as I would have liked, but the end result was fantastic as they taste just like a York Peppermint Patty.

*I thought I would mention that I use canning wax when I dip candies.  When a bit of wax is melted in with the chocolate it becomes extremely runny and when it hardens it is smooth and shiny.  I thinly shave off about 1/8th of a bar of wax and melt that with 1 package of chocolate chips in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds.  You can find the wax in your canning aisle at the grocery store.  If you think I am insane to use wax in my candy making, here is a link from about.com.