It’s time. I’ve stocked the pantry full of Christmas goodie experimentation essentials: Sugar in all forms (white, brown, powdered, pearl, molasses, corn and maple syrups), Chocolate in all forms (cocoa, chips, mini-chips, chunks), Mint in all forms (canes, extract, oil, leaves).
I was getting ready to make peppermint patties, and then got thinking about a little addictive candy we used to sell for the Pentwater 4th grade fundraiser…Mint Meltaways. Turns out, these are a snap and easily made by the kids. This is a great excuse to splurge and buy a big jar of coconut oil. I ordered mine from Amazon, and it’s taken 2 years to finish the jar. Orthodontia has started around here, so the other bonus is that this soft melty candy doesn’t cause trouble like Turkish Delight would.
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Mint Meltaways
Ingredients
- 1 12oz. package of Divvies chocolate chips (341g)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (100g)
- 1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring between zaps until all the chips are melted.
- Add the coconut oil into the warm chocolate and stir until completely melted and incorporated.
- Add the salt and peppermint.
- Line a bread pan with parchment paper, wax paper or foil. Spray with cooking spray.
- Pour the chocolate into the prepared pan, and place in the refrigerator until firm.
- Once firm, remove the chocolate slab from the pan. Allow to warm up a bit before cutting. It tends to shatter if cut when really cold.
- Roll around in powdered sugar. These store best in the refrigerator.
This recipe is all about proportion. If you don’t have enough chips or coconut oil, you can scale things down and make a smaller batch. Just take the chocolate you have and multiply by 0.3 to get the needed oil, or take your oil and divide by 0.3 to get the weight of chips needed. So, if you only have 150g of chocolate chips left because you’ve been snacking on them, you need 45g of coconut oil. You’re smart enough to tweak down the salt and extract on your own. Remember to use a smaller pan for cooling or you’ll have paper-thin chocolates.
You can make homemade Magic Shell with the coconut oil, too. Add a little peppermint flavoring…. YUM! 🙂
I always plan to post that recipe, and then the Magic Shell disappears before I can get a pic! Smart idea on the peppermint!
YES PLEASE. 🙂
Stupid question – what size bread pan did you use?
Michele, I have the 1 pound bread pans made by Chicago Metallics. I just eyeballed the amount of liquid I had and that pan looked to be the right size, no real science to it! http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-Commercial-Traditional-Uncoated/dp/B003YKGRKU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1322855079&sr=8-4
Yummy! My boys would love these…as would I! I will have to add these little morsels to my list of things to bake. Could canola oil be substituted instead of the coconut oil? Susan H. @ The Food Allergy Chronicles
I followed the recipe and directions exactly and the mints softened up too much when it reached room temp. So runny in fact I had to use a spoon to eat it! I want to make these as gifts for Xmas, but I can't seem to make it hold up unless it's cold. I even added almost double the chocolate to help it firm up, but it's still too soft…. Any suggestions?
Oh dear. So….I've been keeping these in the fridge, and I left one out overnight to come to room temp to check stability, and it's definitely solid, so I'm a bit baffled at the trouble. Coconut oil is absolutely necessary in this recipe because it's a thermodynamic wonder. Coconut oil is liquid when slightly warmed, semi-solid at room temp and rock hard when cold….which is why it's the basis for Magic Shell. The "meltaway" quality of these comes because of the different melting points of chocolate and coconut oil. The oil starts melting from solid to liquid at body temperature in the mouth, and then melts the chocolate along with it. But don't distress, I have many many failed experiments and it's impossible to truly fail with chocolate. Flopped chocolate cookies, brownies, candies can always find a good home mixed into ice cream!!
I just use a turkey blaster and put the melted recipe into mini cupcake liners, the size for candies, you can do a whole bunch on a cookie sheet, and put the whole thing in the fridge till it sets. That way you don’t have to worry about cutting into squares, it’s already in single serving size pieces. ??