Perfect Peppermint Pressies! (Confectionery)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Confectionery
Date:	24/12/08 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to make, look and taste wonderful

Disadvantages: Contains raw egg so not suitable for all

My middle granddaughter came to visit yesterday as she has quite a nasty cold and didn't feel like traipsing the length and breadth of London with her Mum and sisters getting the last few Christmas bits and pieces. She was a little upset to miss out on the shopping expedition so I decided to let her have free rein in the kitchen where she could do some painting and help me do some cooking. I suddenly remembered a recipe for Peppermint Creams that I have had for years, so she decided to make some and wrap them up as Christmas presents for her Mum and other Nan.

These lovely little sweets are so easy that nine year old Alice made them all by herself with very little help from me.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

450g icing sugar, it's important you sift this as you need a very fine powder
2 egg whites (don't waste the yolks, make eggy bread with them!)
Peppermint essence
Food colouring, it's up to you what colour you want to use but pale pink and green always looks best I think - or if you're making them as a gift why not colour them in the recipients favourite football team colours
Silver sugar balls for decoration

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

Place your sifted icing sugar in a bowl.

In another bowl add the egg whites (being very careful not to include any yolk or shell pieces) and lightly beat with a fork. You don't want to whip the egg whites up too much, just enough to soften the white a little. Please do not attempt beating them as you would for a meringue because the Peppermint Creams won't work if you do this.

Add roughly half of your icing sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until all the sugar you have added has been incorporated into the egg white. Give this mixture a good beat for few minutes, then add your Peppermint Essence and the rest of the icing sugar. Mix well, you are now trying for a stiff mixture which will have a slight sheen to the surface - don't worry if the mixture still seems a little wet, just add a touch more sifted icing sugar.

If you are using more than one food colouring, you need to split the mixture and add one colour to each lump of mixture. Simply add a few drops and lightly knead it through the minty mixture.

Now you have a choice, you can either roll out the mixture and use cutters to cut your Peppermint Creams into fancy shapes or buy some small sweet paper cases and simply add a dollop into each case. While the sweets are still wet add your silver balls, pressing them down into the mixture slightly.

You can also use any small light weight sweets such as Dolly Mixtures or Tooty Fruitys.

Allow your sweets to dry out completely before packaging them in pretty boxes to hand out as gifts to friends and neighbours. My granddaughter ended up making about 100 of these yesterday so I have Peppermint Creams coming out of my ears now, but I am off to Sainsbury's in a minute to buy some attractive boxes to wrap them in.

I hope you try these today, buying the ingredients will cost you about £4 and the entire cooking and moulding process should take you just half an hour. What better way to buy that last minute gift for the neighbour you've managed to forget about?

Please note however, these sweets do contain raw egg so beware about giving them to pregnant ladies, the elderly, very young children and anyone who's immune system isn't up to scratch. They're lovely though, so thank goodness I don't fit into any of these categories - apart from perhaps the elderly one that is, but who cares!

Summary: You've still got time to make some of these lovely Peppermint Creams for Christmas.