Homemade Peppermint Patties

Like you needed another excuse to eat dessert, but let me give you one anyway: These Homemade Peppermint Patties give you fresh breath!

These are one of my favorite holiday desserts (or any time of the year honestly). I like everything about these Homemade Peppermint Patties. For starters, they aren’t too big. You can have one without feeling guilty. Hell, you could have ice cream and then have one. Still OKAY.

While they are sweet, they aren’t cloyingly sweet. They mostly taste like fresh peppermint which is very excellent in my opinion.

Could you make a big batch of these and give them away as little holiday treats? Absolutely.

Could you just hoard them all for yourself? Sure. I won’t tell because that’s what I did.

What’s the center of a peppermint patty?

The center of a peppermint patty is a little bit of of an odd texture. It holds its shape but is also very soft. 

I like to think of it as a very firm frosting and my version has ingredients like coconut oil, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and heavy cream.

How to make the peppermint patty center

I experimented with the dough for these homemade peppermint patties after looking at approximately a million different recipes. Some had shortening which I don’t really have around. Some have various other fillers.

I tried to keep it simple. Whatever you do though, don’t leave out the lemon. A little citrus makes it happen.

Melt the coconut oil and mix it together with the corn syrup, cream, lemon juice, and extracts. It won’t look like much, but that little bit of liquid is packed with flavor.

Then start stirring in your powdered sugar. The end result should be a really firm dough ball. Somewhere around 4 cups of sugar will probably get you there, but you might need a bit more or less.

Then roll out the dough on some parchment paper.

If the patty dough is really soft, stick it in the freezer for a few minutes so it’s easier to work with. Then use a small cookie cutter to out little rounds.

You should get at least two dozen homemade peppermint patties, but can probably get even more if you re-roll the dough a few times.

Once your rounds are cut, freeze the rounds for another 10-15 minutes so they are really firm.

Are peppermint patties vegan?

For some reason this is a common question that gets asked about peppermint patties. I would assume that peppermint patties are not vegan, especially homemade versions. While I’m sure you could make these vegan with some substitutions, most versions will have butter or cream in them and some include ingredients like sweetened condensed milk and maybe even gelatin for a thickener. 

Are these like a copycat York Peppermint Patty?

These are similar to the popular York peppermint patty in that they are a thin layer of peppermint filling coated in chocolate. There are some differences though because I’m not a professional candy maker! 

For starters, my homemade peppermint patties are a bit thicker than the York version. They are also way less uniform. It’s hard to get a consistent width and thickness in a home kitchen.

But, I think my version has slightly better flavor. The fresh lemon juice combined with vanilla and peppermint has a really nice flavor to it that isn’t too sweet. 

Plus, I put crumbled peppermint candy on mine to kick it up even another notch! 

What chocolate works well for these patties

To be honest, I would keep it simple for these. There are a lot of other flavors going on here so I kept it easy with some semi-sweet chocolate chips. I think I used Ghirardelli which makes a very good semi-sweet chocolate. You could use dark chocolate if you wanted to, but I kept it simple. 

The Chocolate Seizing Problem

’ve written about melting chocolate many times over the years (One for the cookie dough truffles and one for the coconut macaroons).

I know the rules: Heat it slowly over indirect heat so it doesn’t get too hot and seize up.

Well, I screwed it up for these guys the first time I made them. I put my chocolate on the double boiler and then walked away and did something else for like 10 minutes. OOPS. My chocolate was a hard seized ball of uselessness when I returned.

I should’ve taken a picture of it, but was too busy cursing.

Here’s the thing. When you seize up chocolate it’s basically ruined. You can’t really use it because the consistency of it has changed forever. You definitely couldn’t use it for candy or anything you intend to sell.

BUT. BUT. BUT! If you are just using it for a homemade little treat, there is a trick that will get you back to useable status. Basically, you need to stir more fat into the chocolate to loosen it up. Any kind of oil will do the trick. I used coconut oil but you could just stir in shortening or vegetable oil if you wanted.

Heat it up again (gently) as you add the oil and eventually the chocolate will smooth out.

See? I saved it!

I used this for dipping the Homemade Peppermint Patties and it was totally okay. The only thing wrong with it is that the chocolate never really hardens correctly because it has too much fat in it now.

So really anything you use it for will need to stay refrigerated or it will just soften and get goopy.

But hey… I like to keep these little peppermint patties in the fridge anyway so they are nice and cool so it’s no biggy for this recipe.

So, try to melt your chocolate correctly, but if you are a busybody like me you’ll probably screw it up at least once. Most of the time it’s a lost cause, but might as well try and salvage it!

Once my little patties were dipped, I topped them with some crushed candy. I really liked the texture that the candy gave.

That’s all there is too it, team.

Homemade Peppermint Patties

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4.34 from 3 votes

Author: Nick Evans

Servings: 12 Servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Delicious little homemade peppermint patties. Soft, minted interior coated with rich chocolate and topped with some crunchy festive candies!

Equipment

• 1 Baking Sheet

Ingredients 

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• ½ lemon, juice
• 1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
• 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
• Crushed peppermint candies

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil, cream, corn syrup, lemon juice, and extracts. Then add powdered sugar in batches until the dough form a stiff ball.
• Roll the dough out on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper. It should 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Freeze the dough for 10 minutes.
• Use a small cookie cutter to cut rounds out of the dough. You should get at least 24, but maybe more. Refreeze the peppermint rounds while you prepare the chocolate.
• Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler over gentle heat until it’s silky smooth and melted. Watch the temp on the chocolate and try to melt it slowly so it doesn’t get too hot and seize up.
• When chocolate is silky smooth, dip each peppermint round in chocolate and use a fork to shake off any excess. Return each round to the baking sheet and sprinkle with crushed candies. Let chocolate harden on the candies.
• Store extra chocolates in the fridge.

Nutrition

Serving: 2patties | Calories: 114kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.05g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 11mg | Potassium: 90mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 56IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Here are a few other great desserts to try!

• Peppermint Snow Peaks
• Peppermint Whoopie Pies
• Triple Chocolate Guinness Brownies
• White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies