Ok so I recently found the Peppermint Brownie Cake Pops at Starbucks and my life has not been the same since.  They are that delicious.  And somehow, under 200 calories…I’m guessing that’s because they are so small, but really this sweet treat is all I really need to get me through my day.  I also, however, realized that they are sadly seasonal items – so probably sometime this month they will be trickling out of stores near you.  Obviously, I could not let this happen without figuring out a reasonable knock-off recipe prior to the inevitable end of the holiday season.

I have to say, this recipe is a pretty passable version of the deliciousness that is the Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop.  I made it for Christmas this year, and it was a big hit to say the least.  It also is very easy, even if you’ve never tried cake pops before.  Basically Cake Pops are what you make if your cake comes out all crumbly and fall-apart-y.  You combine the cooked and crumbled cake with frosting and form into balls, about 1.5 inches in diameter, then freeze until semi-solid.  For the finishing touch, you put a stick into the ball of crumbled cake (since it’s frozen, it won’t fall apart) and then dip into your choice of coating, which for me was melted white chocolate.  Finally, sprinkle with whatever cute/tasty decoration you wish to use.

We sincerely enjoyed making these, and also eating them...although I do not recommend licking the candy coating off of a butter knife as my sous chef is.

I used a store-bought brownie mix, seeing as I was going to be crumbling it all up and mixing it with frosting to make it even moister and more delicious.  A tip for melting white chocolate here -if you add about 1-2 tsp of vegetable oil, the white chocolate melts much more smoothly, and is about a million times easier to work with.  I suggest using a double boiler for this recipe, (rather than my go-to chocolate melting strategy – the microwave) as it takes a while to dip all of the cake balls into the chocolate, and this will keep your white chocolate good to go the whole time.  Lastly, I would strongly recommend having a block of unused floral foam on hand, so that you can place the sticks into it and have the cake pops harden without a flat side.  Makes them much more pretty.

Peppermint Brownie Cake Pops – a la Starbucks

• 1 boxed brownie mix, prepared according to package instructions and cooled
• 4oz cream cheese, softened  **you may use frosting instead of cream cheese if you prefer a sweeter finished product
• 1 package white chocolate chips
• 1-2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 bag starlight mints or 1 box candy canes, crushed
• Candy sticks, found in the candy-making section of your local craft store

Place prepared brownies into the bowl of your stand mixer and turn it on.  Add softened cream cheese, and mix until the brownie crumbs are moistened.  Form into 1.5 inch balls and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Freeze for at least 1 hour.  Remove from freezer and insert a candy stick into each ball.  Place your white chocolate chips and vegetable oil into the bowl of a double boiler and place over a small amount of boiling water.  When the chips start to become glossy-looking, stir until they melt completely and are smooth.  Dip each cake pop into the melted white chocolate.  Immediately dip the cake pop into the crushed peppermint.  Finally, place the cake ball sticks into a waiting block of unused floral foam, so that your cake pops end up perfectly round.  Enjoy!

I always wondered how marshmallows were made – the puffy soft sugary goodness seemed like it would be elusively difficult to replicate in my own kitchen, so I always just bought whatever I could find at the local market whenever we wanted to make S’mores, or have a few in my hot cooca.  As my husband reminded me when I told him of my plan to make marshmallows last week, the first time I saw Alton Brown make them on TV one night, I incredulously stated it seemed pointless to put so much work into making something as simple as  marshmallows.  Turns out, homemade marshmallows really are THAT much better than the store-bought product.  And, they are actually incredibly easy.  Really easy.  Like, 15 minutes start-to-finish make-on-a-weeknight-after-a-long-day-of-work easy.  Bonus, they also use mostly things you already have stashed away in your pantry.  The most time-intensive part is preparing the pans, so your homemade marshmallows don’t stick.  They take very little cooking, and I’m pretty sure they are fool proof.

This year instead of making cookies for family and friends, I opted to make homemade hot cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows for gifts.  The best part is you can flavor them however you want – I chose to make candy cane marshmallows, and vanilla bean marshmallows.  They came out beautiful, and they are super tasty.

Maybe Santa would appreciate some homemade marshmallows tonight instead?

Homemade Marshmallows – from MarthaStewart.com

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 (1/4-ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• Confectioners’ sugar, sifted (to coat)

Prepare 2 9×9 square baking dishes by coating with cooking spray.  Line each with plastic wrap, and then spray the plastic wrap with cooking spray as well.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl, with a hand mixer nearby), place 1/2 cup cold water and the gelatin.  Let soften for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, place sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt.  Bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.  Boil for about 1 minute.  Remove from the heat.  With your stand mixer on high (or hand-mixer on high), slowly drizzle the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl.  Add the vanilla extract and the vanilla bean seeds.  Mix on high for 10-12 minutes.  Spray a rubber spatula with cooking spray, and working quickly use the spatula to transfer the warm marshmallow to the baking dish.  Spread evenly in the pan.  Let sit for at least 2 hours (up to 24 hrs).

Remove marshmallows from the pan together with the plastic wrap to a cutting board lightly dusted with confectioners’ sugar.  Peel away the plastic wrap from the side.  Spray a pizza cutter with cooking spray.   Cut marshmallows into 1.5 inch wide strips.  Then cut each strip into 1.5 inch pieces, to form cubes.  Toss with sifted confectioners sugar, and keep in an airtight container.

Candy Cane Marshmallows – adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Follow recipe as above, omitting vanilla extract and vanilla bean.  Instead, add 3/4 tsp peppermint extract.  Transfer quickly to the prepared pans and spread evenly.  Add drops of food coloring (I used red and green) on top of the marshmallows.  Using a bamboo skewer, swirl the food coloring through the marshmallow.  Let sit as above, and then slice as above.  Enjoy!

I picked up a bag of Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips at Target shortly after Christmas. I had thought that they’d be the perfect addition to some chocolate chocolate-chip cookies or basic brownies, as they’re essentially crushed Andes mints. After my holiday baking frenzy wound down, I promptly forgot about them.

As I was perusing older recipes from some of my favorite blogs, I found the perfect recipe in which to use my crushed Andes mints: the Peppermint Brownie Cups on Baking Blonde’s Weblog. The recipe looked like the perfect combination of mint and chocolate, and I liked that the brownies were pre-portioned using a muffin tin. I always say that I’m going to freeze most of the brownies that I make, but within a matter of days my husband and I have consumed every last one. Once the pan is out of the oven, my self-discipline goes out the window!

This was only my second time making brownies from scratch, and they’re just perfect! The brownies have a rich, chocolate flavor and a consistency that’s dense and chewy, but not too heavy. I followed the recipe quite closely, deviating only to use my Creme de Menthe Chips in place of the Peppermint Crunch Chips, and to top the brownies with mini chocolate chips.

After enjoying several of the brownies, I stashed the rest in the freezer. When a chocolate craving hits, these perfectly-portioned brownies will be ready in an instant!

Peppermint Brownie Cups

Yields 14-16 brownies
6 TBS butter
6 oz semisweet chocolate (chopped)
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
2 cups Andes Creme de Menthe Chips or Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners. Lightly spray liners with cooking spray.

In a heat-proof bowl, melt together butter and chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals stirring after each interval until smooth. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk or beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture. Add eggs and peppermint extract mixing until combined and smooth. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. Gently fold in the 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips.

Carefully pour batter to prepared each muffin liner filling about 2/3 full. Sprinkle a few Andes Peppermint chips over the top of each individual brownie. . Bake for 18-23 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs.

*Baking time will depend on your oven, watch carefully so you don?t overbake! Mine were done in 20 minutes.

Allow to cool before removing from muffin pan.
Keep brownies in cupcake liners until ready to serve to help prevent them from drying out.

As I mentioned in my sorbet post, I’ve been stockpiling homemade ice cream and sorbet recipes for quite awhile. Mint Chocolate Chip is one of my favorite flavors, so I was quite excited when I saw this recipe on the blog Proceed with Caution.

This was my first attempt at homemade ice cream, so I hesitated to stray from the original recipe. I was quite pleased to find an ice cream recipe that didn’t use copious amounts of whipping cream and egg yolks. Since I’ve read conflicting information on consuming uncooked Egg Beaters, I followed the ice cream making method set forth by Mark Bittman in How to Cook Everything, but used the ingredients and proportions found on Proceed with Caution. I’ve included both the original and modified preparation methods below.

When I was done mixing the base, I adjusted the flavor slightly. I found that I needed to increase the amount of sugar by two tablespoons (1/2 cup total) and I also decided to add an additional teaspoon of peppermint extract (1 1/2 teaspoons total). Since I like lots of chocolate bits in my ice cream, added a full cup of mini chocolate chips.

The finished product is rich, creamy and refreshingly minty. I’m happy that I had such a great recipe to follow for my first foray into homemade ice cream and will be consulting Proceed With Caution for other frozen confections.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from Doc Wilson, as found on Proceed with Caution

1/4 cup Egg Beaters
1/2 can of fat free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup white sugar
4 ounces heavy whipping cream
16 ounces fat free half and half
4 ounces skim milk (or 1%, or 2%, whatever you have)
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
2 tsp vodka OR mint schnapps OR “The Good Doctor” (optional)
1 cup mini chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg beaters, sweetened condensed milk, and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Add heavy whipping cream, half and half, skim milk, salt, vodka or schnapps, and mint extract. For the very best results (who wants anything less?), let the mix chill in the refrigerator for about four hours which allows the mix to “age” before freezing according to the directions with your ice cream freezer. Add the mini chips in the last 5 minutes of freezing. This recipe makes the perfect amount to fit in a 1.5 quart ice cream maker. Makes between 4 and 5 cups of ice cream.

My revised preparation:
1. Pour half and half into small saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Remove from heat.
2. In a separate bowl, use a whisk or electric mixer to beat Egg Beaters, sweetened condensed milk and sugar together. Beat in 1/2 cup of hot half and half and then stir this mixture into the saucepan with the remaining half and half.
3. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue until the mixture reached 170-180 degrees or is slightly thickened. Do not bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Pour the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the cream and milk.
5. Once the mixture has cooled slightly, but is still hot, add the salt, mint extract and vodka. Taste the mixture and add more sugar or mint as needed.
6. Chill the mixture for several hours. You can speed up the process by placing the bowl containing the mixture in a large bowl filled with ice and water.
7. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions Add the mini chips during the last five minutes.

I was a relatively late adopter of the KitchenAid stand mixer. Just about everyone that I know registered for one when they got married. I looked at it and said “It’s big, heavy and expensive. Why would I possibly need it?” While I certainly could get by without it, I have come to love mine. Making breads, cookies and other concoctions is just so effortless. As Lisa’s husband said “You put things in, and food comes out.”

When I decided I was ready to jump on the KitchenAid bandwagon last fall, I researched prices and rebate deals. I was fortunate to catch the end of a fantastic rebate deal: purchase a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer from anywhere but Bed Bath and Beyond and get a slicer/shredder attachment or ice cream maker attachment free.

Armed with a 20% off coupon, I visited my local Linen’s ‘n Things (right before they started their going out of business sale) and emerged with an Artisan Stand Mixer in Metallic Chrome. I happily filled out my rebate form, figuring that my ice cream maker attachment would arrive in time to make delicious frozen concoctions in the dead of winter.

I’ve been bookmarking ice cream, sherbet and sorbet recipes in anticipation of my gadget’s arrival. It arrived on Friday. I was so excited. I think my husband was amused by how much effort I put into deciding what I would make first.

Ultimately, I decided to make chocolate sorbet, using a recipe that Lisa gave me (originally from Recipezaar). since my husband and I love mint chocolate, I added 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract.

I was amazed at how easy it was to make this sorbet. After heating the base, I chilled it in the refrigerator for about four hours before processing it in the ice cream maker. After running the maker for 30 minutes, the sorbet had a soft-serve consistency, so I transferred it to a 2-quart airtight container and put it in the freezer.

Four hours later, we sampled the chocolate mint sorbet for the first time. Wow. It’s amazing that something with so few ingredients and so little preparation can be so decadent. The finished product has a smooth, dense, luxurious look and feel. It has a rich dark chocolate flavor (almost bittersweet) with a cool hint of mint. If you’re looking for a lighter flavored chocolate dessert, this is not the one for you. But, if you want a taste of intensely satisfying dark chocolate, I highly recommend it.

Chocolate Mint Sorbet

Yields 6 servings

1 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1. Combine all but vanilla in a saucepan.
2. Heat on medium, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches a boil.
3. Turn off heat, and stir in vanilla and peppermint extract.
4. Chill in fridge for several hours.
5. Put in ice cream maker and run according to manufacturers directions until it reaches desired consistency.

The sorbet will have a soft-serve consistency. Sorbet will be firmer after several additional hours of freezing.

Peppermint bark is tasty, festive addition to your holiday treats. Pre-made peppermint bark can be purchased at many retailers, but it’s typically pretty pricey. With two bags of chips, 8 candy canes and less than an hour of your time, you can make this fun holiday treat at home.

Even though Christmas Day has come and gone, I’m still reveling in the Christmas season and will be preparing peppermint bark for a party this week. It’s not too late to give it a try!

If you melt the chocolate in the microwave, go low and slow so it doesn’t seize or scorch. White chocolate is particularly fussy. It’s always good to have an extra bag on hand, just in case. I usually start heating for 1 minute at 50% power and then heat at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until it’s sufficiently melted.

Peppermint Bark

1 12 oz. bag white chocolate chips
1 12 oz. bag of milk or dark chocolate chips
8 candy canes
1/4 tsp peppermint extract (optional)

1) Line cookie sheet with wax paper.
2) Unwrap candy canes, place in zip-top bag and crush. Smaller pieces mix more easily and are less likely to fall off of the bark.
3) Melt milk chocolate in double-boiler or microwave.
4) If desired, mix 1/4 tsp. peppermint extract into melted milk chocolate.
5 Spread milk chocolate evenly over entire cookie sheet.
6) Place cookie sheet in freezer for approx. 20 minutes.
7) Once the milk chocolate has hardened, melt white chocolate.
Mix 1/2 of the crushed candy cane into the white chocolate.
9) Quickly spread melted white chocolate over the hardened milk chocolate.
10) Sprinkle remaining crushed candy canes on white chocolate, pressing lightly.
11) Return cookie sheet to freezer for at least 30 minutes. When chocolate has hardened, break up peppermint bark.