Welcome to chocolate and peppermint season!
It’s one of my favourites, for sure. There’s something about this combo that puts my taste buds in sheer ecstasy. So invigorating! So peppy! I feel like I can conquer the world when I’m eating peppermint and chocolate in the same bite. Strange, but true.
A few of my favourite chocolate and peppermint recipes on the blog are: No Bake Peppermint Patty Bars, Peppermint Patty Bars II, Peppermint Patty Green Monster.
Clearly, I have peppermint patty issues.
Despite all the peppermint patty themed recipes that I’ve shared with you, I don’t actually have a peppermint patty recipe on the blog yet. Major oversight! The truth is, I tested some vegan peppermint patty recipes a few years ago, but I was never satisfied with the filling that I came up with. So the recipe was pushed aside for other things. This happens all the time in my kitchen. I have approximately 64752 unfinished recipes stuffed into a drawer or on my Google Drive recipe file. When I’m desperate for ideas, that’s when I’ll often sift through them all.
My previous trial involved powdered sugar and vegan butter, but I wanted to up my game. So, I started playing around with a coconut butter version which I’ve seen on many blogs, but it was too coconut-y for my liking. To be honest, I’m not a huge coconut butter fan to begin with so pairing it with my beloved childhood peppermint patty just seemed out of place.
I want a peppermint filling that melts in your mouth…
Yeah. Like that.
As it turned out, a totally different recipe inspired this patty filling. As soon as I tasted the squares I knew it would be the perfect filling for my beloved peppermint patties.
The secret?
I used a small amount of blended soaked cashews and almond milk to mimic that amazing creamy consistency and flavour. Coconut oil firms it all up when chilled (but doesn’t give that over-powering coconut flavour like the coconut butter did), while allowing for that melt-in-your-mouth experience upon first bite.
At first, I wasn’t sure how to translate this liquid peppermint filling into solid patty form. One of the challenging parts about recipe creation is figuring out the most efficient process for the steps involved. Making it taste good is the easy part! Often I have to just make it and get my hands dirty before I can figure out which method will work best. I’m such a visual person. For the first trial, I decided to spread out the entire peppermint mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet (see this photo) and then I froze it for over an hour. Once it firmed up, I scraped it off the sheet with a spoon and formed it into patties. The process was quite fussy and super messy, but it worked. Still, I knew there had to be a better way…
For my second trial, I poured the filling into mini candy liners (see above, right). I think I got these from Bulk Barn a couple years ago. Half a tablespoon of filling went into each liner and then I froze them for 20 minutes, popped them out of the liner, and froze for another 10 minutes before coating in melted chocolate. This worked much better and it took half the time. Score! I know that not everyone has these candy liners hanging around, so I tested it with paper cupcake liners too. The filling stuck to the paper liners more and was harder to pop out, but they should work OK in a pinch if it’s all you have. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it work!
A photo from trial #1 after shaping the patties by hand:
Trial 2 photo below – using the mini candy liner method. Oh, and you can make these into “Junior Mints” too (see the small one beside the spoon? could it be any more adorable?)
Creamy Dreamy Peppermint Patties
Yield
22-25 mini patties
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Chill time
1 hour
Total time
Luxurious, invigorating, melt-in-your-mouth peppermint patties made from scratch! Even better than store-bought versions. I suggest keeping these in the fridge or freezer for the best texture. The chocolate coating gets all snappy which is a wonderful contrast to the creamy middle.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked (see note)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 3-4 tablespoons agave nectar, to taste (I used 4 tbsp)
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
Directions
- Place cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Let soak overnight, or for at least 2-3 hours. If your blender isn't great at blending things smooth, I suggest soaking overnight for the best results.
- Drain and rinse the cashews after soaking.
- Add the cashews, melted coconut oil, agave, milk, and peppermint extract into a high-speed blender. Blend on the highest speed until completely smooth. This can take a couple minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grab mini cupcake/candy liners. Add a half tablespoon of filling into each liner. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat until you don't have any filling left (you should get about 22-25). Freeze, uncovered, for 20-35 minutes, or until firm to the touch.
- After freezing, quickly pop the patties out of the cupcake liners and set each on top of their respective liner. Return to the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up even more.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a small pot over the lowest heat. When half of the chips have melted, remove it from the heat and stir until all the chips are melted. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly for a few minutes before dunking the patties.
- Remove the patties from the freezer and dunk them into the melted chocolate with a fork. Tap the side to shake off excess chocolate and place on parchment paper. Do this step as quickly as possible so the patties don't melt. Update: Some of you are having trouble with the chocolate thickening up as you do this step. If this happens, I suggest heating the chocolate again over low heat to thin it back out. The cold peppermint patties are probably causing it to thicken with time. Another option is to just drizzle the chocolate on top of the patties.
- Return the patties to the freezer until set, for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate coating is firm. Store leftover patties in the freezer/fridge until ready to enjoy!
Tip:
1) you can sub in your favourite liquid sweetener for agave, if desired. Just know that the flavour will change depending on the sweetener you use. 2) See the bottom of this post for a nut-free version and more tips on making this recipe. 3) If you have melted chocolate leftover, spread it into a parchment paper lined plate and freeze it. This way nothing goes to waste!
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
For an extra festive, crunchy patty, try sprinkling on crushed candy canes on top of the chocolate! I didn’t get that far though. =)
Nut-free version?
Yes, I did test a nut-free version for you guys!! I used 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds instead of 1/2 cup cashews. I soaked them overnight and followed the recipe as written, only using 2.5 tablespoons milk (use nut-free) since the filling was thicker. For some reason, I had trouble with the peppermint filling setting as well as the cashew version did, even after freezing the patties for double the time. I’m not sure why this happened. The taste, however, was fantastic!!! My advice if you want a nut-free version, is to not bother with popping the patties out of the liners. I would suggest using silicone liners and simply leaving the peppermint patty in the liner. Then add the melted chocolate on top and freeze as usual. Then you can eat it straight out of the liner without having to fuss! Or try serving it in a mini jar like my Peanut Butter Cups In A Jar. Just an idea…if you try anything let us know in the comments.
Nut-free Update: Ok, so the nut-free patties eventually set, but it took a good 2-3 hours! Keep this in mind if making the nut-free version.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dreaming up a totally amazing Peppermint Patty pie for the holidays. Am I nuts or would this be the best pie ever?
Clearly I could talk all day long about peppermint patties, but I’m going to stop now.
A big congrats to Kay for winning the $500 Tata Harper gift card!! Thanks to everyone who entered. Don’t worry there are sooo many more amazing prizes up for grabs this month in my 12 Days of Giveaways! You don’t want to miss out.
I just made these and they are absolutely amazing!!!! Fun to make as well
OMG YUM!
These were absolutely delicious! Made a batch and enjoyed every bite.
My only real issue was the poor peppermint centers melting into the chocolate! I had to wait a few extra minutes for the chocolate to cool.
Also, I had some problems getting adequate coverage of the patty – my dipping skills need a little work. I ended up using more chocolate than the recipe required, but I’m not complaining about the increased chocolate-to-mint ratio.
Sub: Used peppermint essential oil to taste (~8-12 drops) instead of peppermint extract. Worked like a charm.
Thanks, Angela!! One of my favorites that I’ll definitely make again and again :)
As a relatively new vegan (but long-time GF gal) and am sometimes wary of new recipes–mostly because I’ve made so many flops. But oh. my. goodness.–what an amazing recipe. In fact all the recipes I’ve made from this website have been amazing–Thank you Angela.
This was very easy to make and the little candy cups I bought at Bulk Barn worked perfectly and were exactly the right size. I actually forgot to add the almond milk, but they still turned out wonderfully! My candy-loving sister was floored at how amazing they were :)
Hi Cate, Thanks for your kind words!! So glad you enjoyed the peppermint patties. Im making another batch tonight (wont tell you what # that is…haha)
Per usual, I’ve just jumped up to start making these right now!
Umm WOW these are amazing!!!!!!!!!!
I just made these for Christmas dessert and I’m super excited to taste them – they’re in the freezer right now :) love your page so much!
I made these for Christmas! They are truly addictive and my new favourite treat! I will be eating them year round. I would love some more recipe ideas with cashew milk…I had no idea how delicious it is!
Wow those were really good! I had to keep them in the fridge because they were melting but they were gone soooo fast :) Delicious !!
Hi Angela,
recently discovered your blog, really like all the inspiring recipes and beautiful pictures! Me and my better half are just starting to be vegan, so it’s a great help to have experienced blogger like you for ideas :) Thanks!
I just noticed the chocolate of your peppermints doesn’t look really shiny, like it sould be. And I noticed in the recepie you’re not mentioning any temperatures for the chocolate, so I thought maybe you’re not aware of this.
Chocolate needs to be melted as you described, then adding additional unmeldet chocolate. The melted chocolate may not excess 45°Celsius (sorry, don’t know in F).
Then it needs to be cooled to 27°C. And then, reheated to 33°C for dark chocolate. Then it’s ready for use.
Doing it like that will make it dry to a hard shell that will have a nice crack and be shiny.
Give it try :)
Best regards, Nikki
Just made these. They are as delicious as they look. The texture of the creamy middle is unique and divine!
Definitely too much coconut oil for my taste, but otherwise fine. I think I’d like to try the recipe again, but adjust the coconut and cashews proportions, and replace the agave with honey.
These are amazing and were my biggest success this Christmas. Everyone loved them and can’t get over how they melt in your mouth.
Dear Angela, I really want to thank you for this recipe! I made them during december, and also for my family in the christmas-days, and I just made them again. I think it is seldom to find such a good recipe for af low-GI healthy candy, where you miss nothing – taste, texture and everything is perfect. Thank you so much, Anna, Denmark…
No baking – love it!
Made 2 batches of these at Christmas. They are SO YUMMY! Way better than any peppermint patty I’ve ever had!
Thanks for the recipe! Have you ever used food grade essential oils in your recipes? Do you think that would work instead of using the extract? If so, would the amount used stay the same?
These. Are. Insane. I made them for my friend for his birthday and he loved them. But probably not as much as I love them. And now that I have peppermint extract on hand, I can put it in evveerrrythiiing. And so I futher indulge my nonexistent relationship with moderation. And I also feed my passionate love of peppermint. Peppermint stevia almond milk? Why, yes please! Peppermint chocolate protein shakes? Of course! The love goes on. And my mouth always seems to have a deceptive “just brushed” clean feel nowadays. Angela, I could kiss you (don’t worry, my mouth is minty fresh!)
I am in heaven i just found your sight thank you for you’er lovely recipes i have gone raw this last 6 months my healths has improved. i love finding new recipes for raw food thank you so much.
Hello!
There is more and more information out now about how Agave nectar is terrible for you, with a higher fructose level than high-fructose corn syrup. It’s not “natural” and is completely man-made and much more refined than people suspect. I love every recipe of yours that I try, but I am not sure you are aware of the controversy surrounding this product, and I just wanted to share. A google search will bring up so much information, but here is one site with sources cited:
foodrenegade.com/agave-nectar-good-or-bad/
:)
I am definitely not a vegan and never will be, but I really enjoyed your recipes and plan on making the creamy avocado pasta and the delicious chocolate fudge recipe (using coconut milk or cream is genius), I only need a brownies recipe to top it with the frosting am going to make :) and these peppermint patties look amazing!! Since am on a diet your blog will help me to think of creative ways to substitute certain ingredients that are hazardous on my weight loss plans! Thank you!
YES! These are definitely worthy of the top desserts! I love how creamy and refreshing they are. I made them with orange extract instead of the peppermint for an orange-chocolate treat. Both ways are delicious!
I loved this idea SO much that I went right ahead and made it, they worked perfectly first time, I may have been a tad heavy handed with the peppermint but that’s more than likely my fault! I decided to try out different fillings and made some awesome lemon ones too. . .thanks for the recipe!
Hanna, I was thinking about making lemon ones as well, or key lime! How did you make them and how did they turn out?
This recipe is AMAZING!!! Thank you for sharing! I’ve made them several times already and everyone loves them more than the sugar ones!
A pie version of this would be amazing!
Oh my … I just made these today, and words cannot even describe the incredible YUMMINESS :DDD The YUM factor is through the roof! I’m surprised that this didn’t score higher on the top 13 dessert list, because this was life changing good! :D Thankyou so much for sharing this, I’ll be making these again and again, forget the holiday season. ;)
Um I think these are seriously THE most amazing little morsels I’ve ever made! Satisfied all my choc mint cravings! Thank you so much Angele these will be a regular at my place!
I am a HUGE lover of the peppermint / chocolate combination and have really missed York patties since becoming vegan five years ago, so I had to try these! I decided to see if cutting the oil in half would make a huge difference in how (or if) they set, and it did – they took a few hours in the freezer to firm up. I also had to work very quickly with them in the hot chocolate because they were melting quite quickly. Once they were coated though and reset (which only took a few minutes), they were AMAZING! So good I made them again in the same week : ) Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, you’ve filled a big hole in my vegan heart!
Just made these and they are delicious! The only thing is I didn’t put enough of the patty mix in each cup so some cracked when I took them out (next time will make them a bit thicker like you have pictured). Eating them right from the freezer with the cracking chocolate and creamy center, all I can say is YUMMY!!!
Thanks Angela for your great recipes that are a healthier alternative to store bought!
Recon you can make these using different flavour extracts? Just made these and they are amazing! Would love to try a coffee version
yes you certainly can!
Oh my Gosh!!!!! I made these last night and they turned out so unbelievably good! Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes. I can’t wait to see your book!
Holy cow! These are amazing. Easy to do, fairly quick. It’s true that they taste better than the ‘real’ ones we can get a corner store. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Is there a chance the amount of coconut oil is a typo? I had a tough time squeezing all the oil out, but once I did they are amazing! Love all your recipes!
I didn’t really care for these honestly. They were okay. They weren’t quite as pepperminty as I was hoping, and I found the filling kind of odd-tasting. Not bad, but not great either. I’ll eat the rest of the batch but I don’t think I’ll be making again. I don’t mean to be rude, I just appreciate reading other’s honest opinions on a recipe I’m thinking about making. You have tons of other recipes I love, and I am really enjoying your cookbook!
Lol I have to say I have changed my mind about these. When I first tried them I was t convinced, but by the end I really enjoyed them and my husband (who said he didn’t like peppermint patties) loved them. So I guess I probably will be making them again! Lol
Hello, Angela! I’ve just spent a good half hour (at least!) reading your ‘I quit’ series and absolutely loved it. I’m at stage one right now i.e. I want to quit but have to continue for a while to get the money in, but am going full throttle for my dreams at the same time. Feels so good! Then I hopped over to your food section (because … yum!) and had a look around here too. Love these patties … so creative with the cashews and almond milk! Have you ever tried making chocolate truffles with cashews? They’re pretty good too!
Could you substitute another type of nut for the cashews? Like walnuts? I don’t have any cashews on hand. Thank you.
Right from the freezer, these are absolutely decadent. I’m a York peppermint patty lover and these surpass them by leaps and bounds. And they are easy to make! Great instructions. mmmmmmmm
How do you get the chocolate to not thicken up so quickly? I love this recipe, and so do my family and friends, but I’m unable to get each patty to consistently be small and round. They start out small and nearly perfect (though round, and not flat, like yours), and then as the chocolate hardens, due to the frozen patties, the patties come out bigger and not as smooth and perfect as the ones you make. Any advice? I tried leaving the fire under the chocolate on for longer, which only started burning the chocolate, after it had completely melted, and melting the frozen patties! I’d really appreciate advice, I’ve used a couple recipes on your site and loved them, and have been recommending your site left and right, for great, healthy alternative meals and snacks. It’s an aesthetic and serving problem. As someone who loves Junior Mints, it would be my dream to make patties as small and round as those. Yours look great too, but I can’t even achieve that, as of yet! Sorry for writing so much, but I’ll definitely need help on this before attempting to make this recipe for a third time, for a future special occasion.
Melody, I didn’t have a problem, but then I used the chocolate recipe from the almond butter cup recipe on this site (I think it’s just cocoa powder and coconut oil). I was concerned with it hardening and I had lots of cocoa powder on hand so I tried that instead – zero problems! Hope that helps :)
I wish mine worked out as well as yours did. My peppermint filling wouldn’t freeze. It wasn’t quite runny, but it wasn’t quite solid like yours either… what do you think the problem could be? I’m pretty sure I put enough coconut oil into the mixture.
Creamy, dreamy? Heck yes! These little morsels of deliciousness just melt in your mouth. They’re sooooo good! My non-vegan husband adores these. The only thing I did different because it’s what I had on hand was the chocolate covering; cocoa powder and coconut oil was all I used. These little delectables were put and left in the freezer, just like the almond butter cups, and enjoyed straight from there :) If you haven’t tried this recipe, you must, otherwise you’re missing out ;)
Did you use the same amount of cocoa powder? 1/2 cup?
PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE This is pure delight for your taste buds.
great flavour
Hello, I am absolutely thrilled to try these out for the holidays. I do a lot of baking before hand. What do you supposed would be the shelf life of these delicious treats?
Brooke:)
I think I stored mine in the fridge – we ate them quick but I would guess they would keep for at least a few weeks. You can also freeze them too!
I found these got better with age! I stored mine in the freezer in an airtight container and they tasted even better by the end of the month than they did fresh!
Agreed! The peppermint flavor seems to meld with the rest of the filling and chocolate over time. Wonderful recipe! Just like the recipe states, to make sure the filling is smooth, be sure to soak cashews overnight or longer. Even with my best blender/food processor, the batch with the longest soaked cashews made the smoothest, creamiest filling.
I bet these would also be amazing with shredded coconut added into the center filling…!
These are amazing. I’ve been making them the last few years for holiday gatherings and they’re a major hit. Good because they’re parve too (if you’re going to guests who keep kosher this is a big plus) no added sugar and vegan to boot they’re great.
I sub cashew meal from trader Joes (same amount) for the soaking cashews and it comes out good.
one of my all time favorites!
What dark chocolate did you use? I’m having a hard time finding good vegan dark chocolate!
I’m in the same boat! Looking for what dark chocolate to use!
Thanks for the recipe! I tried these out, but unfortunately I found the coconut oil so overpowering that I couldn’t even finish the recipe. I don’t want to rate it, as its failure may have just been a personal dislike of coconut oil – I have only used it once before, and I didn’t like the end product then either. It has a very strong smell/taste!
Oh my these were so good. I made them for a cookie exchange instead of cookies and everyone is looking for more 2 days later.
Hi! These look scrumptious! I was wondering if I could use Maple syrup instead of Agave (used my last drop of it in another recipe)? Thanks for an amazing blog! :)