Peppermint cream are my faaaavourite. I love them. Mint is one of my favourite flavours, I always get at least one box of After Eights for Christmas, and again at Easter!
I have made peppermint creams before, back at my flat in the UK earlier in the year. It went fairly successfully. My one mistake was following the instructions that involved putting the paste onto the kitchen counter and rolling it out to cut pieces out of. This did not end well, it mostly ended up with a very VERY sticky kitchen counter that took over a month to get properly clean! So needless to say, I did NOT follow that particular instruction this time around!
But that doesn't mean to say that this attempt went especially well...
Problem 1 : Seperating the egg white from the yolk. Last time I had an egg-cup, I put the egg onto a plate and put the egg-cup over the yolk. Easy peasy! Well I can't find an egg-cup anywhere. So I googled "easy ways to separate egg white" or something.
Attempt 1 : One site suggested using a funnel, prop it upright and put the egg into it, the yolk won't break and so it can't get through the funnel but the egg white can. This did not go well. They lied, the yolk DID go through!
Attempt 2 : I tried the thing where you put the yolk from one half of the shell to the other, this was the method I was trying to avoid. I did this OVER the funnel, just in case! This was slightly more successful. Only a tiny bit of yolk got through, and in an attempt to not waste eggs, I just spooned it back out. Hopefully that won't ruin my mixture! It's not like I'm making meringues or something...
Attempt 3 : I was pretty sure the eggs were "small" and not "large" so I wanted two eggs. I raided various drawers and I found what I think was a take-away plastic sauce pot (like you get at McDonalds and things), just the right size! Why I didn't think to find an alternative to an egg-cup sooner I'll never know! This worked perfectly :)
Now, the recipe says you're to whisk the egg whites, add the icing sugar ("powdered sugar" or "confectioners' sugar"), make a paste THEN add the peppermint. This seemed daft to me, so feeling in an adventurous mood, I added the peppermint to the egg white and then whisked it. This made more sense to me, it would mix it in while I was whisking the egg white, and I would be able to tell if the egg white was fully mixed into the sugar...we'll see if I was wrong and there was a reason I wasn't supposed to do that!
Problem 2 : My hand slipped while dropping in the peppermint. Seriously. I'm not making this up. I wasn't really sure what to do about this, so I did, well...nothing lol
Problem 3 : As I was adding the amount of sugar I was told (1 "cup") I discovered that the eggs WERE in fact "large" and I now had messed up the proportions. So I just kept adding sugar!! I also wasn't sure just how "stiff" a "stiff paste" was meant to be...so I kept going until I could barely move the spoon!! I also figured that it could counteract the overuse of peppermint!!
Now, as I previously mentioned, my attempt at rolling it onto the countertop (or kneading it, or generally anything involving putting it on the kitchen counter) went badly. So I was NOT going to do that this time! I theorised that I could just blob it onto the plate (covered with baking parchment) and that would work just as well. I was sure it was thoroughly mixed, it was both a stiff and a smooth paste. So I got out one of the biggest plates, covered it in baking parchement and started blobbing on little circles.
Problem 4 : I rapidly started running out of room on the plate, and they were running together slightly. Plus my hand was getting tired from holding up the bowl with the mixture. WHY, I wondered, couldn't I just put the whole paste onto the plate in one BIG blob? Once it had been left overnight to harden or whatever I could break pieces off as and when I want them? Right? Well I'm sure there's a reason I wasn't supposed to do THAT too, but I did it anyway!
SO my plate of pepperminty paste is currently sat underneath a kitchen towel (next to the hob/stove...I should probably move it...) slowly hardening. I'll give you an update tomorrow and let you know how it tastes!
I have made peppermint creams before, back at my flat in the UK earlier in the year. It went fairly successfully. My one mistake was following the instructions that involved putting the paste onto the kitchen counter and rolling it out to cut pieces out of. This did not end well, it mostly ended up with a very VERY sticky kitchen counter that took over a month to get properly clean! So needless to say, I did NOT follow that particular instruction this time around!
But that doesn't mean to say that this attempt went especially well...
Problem 1 : Seperating the egg white from the yolk. Last time I had an egg-cup, I put the egg onto a plate and put the egg-cup over the yolk. Easy peasy! Well I can't find an egg-cup anywhere. So I googled "easy ways to separate egg white" or something.
Attempt 1 : One site suggested using a funnel, prop it upright and put the egg into it, the yolk won't break and so it can't get through the funnel but the egg white can. This did not go well. They lied, the yolk DID go through!
Attempt 2 : I tried the thing where you put the yolk from one half of the shell to the other, this was the method I was trying to avoid. I did this OVER the funnel, just in case! This was slightly more successful. Only a tiny bit of yolk got through, and in an attempt to not waste eggs, I just spooned it back out. Hopefully that won't ruin my mixture! It's not like I'm making meringues or something...
Attempt 3 : I was pretty sure the eggs were "small" and not "large" so I wanted two eggs. I raided various drawers and I found what I think was a take-away plastic sauce pot (like you get at McDonalds and things), just the right size! Why I didn't think to find an alternative to an egg-cup sooner I'll never know! This worked perfectly :)
Now, the recipe says you're to whisk the egg whites, add the icing sugar ("powdered sugar" or "confectioners' sugar"), make a paste THEN add the peppermint. This seemed daft to me, so feeling in an adventurous mood, I added the peppermint to the egg white and then whisked it. This made more sense to me, it would mix it in while I was whisking the egg white, and I would be able to tell if the egg white was fully mixed into the sugar...we'll see if I was wrong and there was a reason I wasn't supposed to do that!
Problem 2 : My hand slipped while dropping in the peppermint. Seriously. I'm not making this up. I wasn't really sure what to do about this, so I did, well...nothing lol
Problem 3 : As I was adding the amount of sugar I was told (1 "cup") I discovered that the eggs WERE in fact "large" and I now had messed up the proportions. So I just kept adding sugar!! I also wasn't sure just how "stiff" a "stiff paste" was meant to be...so I kept going until I could barely move the spoon!! I also figured that it could counteract the overuse of peppermint!!
Now, as I previously mentioned, my attempt at rolling it onto the countertop (or kneading it, or generally anything involving putting it on the kitchen counter) went badly. So I was NOT going to do that this time! I theorised that I could just blob it onto the plate (covered with baking parchment) and that would work just as well. I was sure it was thoroughly mixed, it was both a stiff and a smooth paste. So I got out one of the biggest plates, covered it in baking parchement and started blobbing on little circles.
Problem 4 : I rapidly started running out of room on the plate, and they were running together slightly. Plus my hand was getting tired from holding up the bowl with the mixture. WHY, I wondered, couldn't I just put the whole paste onto the plate in one BIG blob? Once it had been left overnight to harden or whatever I could break pieces off as and when I want them? Right? Well I'm sure there's a reason I wasn't supposed to do THAT too, but I did it anyway!
SO my plate of pepperminty paste is currently sat underneath a kitchen towel (next to the hob/stove...I should probably move it...) slowly hardening. I'll give you an update tomorrow and let you know how it tastes!
(Note : After trying to google an image to use for this post I feel slightly embarressed! They're all so pretty! And mine's, well...NOT! LOL Oh well, I'm still learning!!)
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