"Peppermint" news and stories

One may be hard-pressed to initially recognize these shards as peppermint candy, but the fiery red pieces are indeed a festive, edible holiday treat. And -- an important asset during the holiday bustle -- for such a sophisticated appearance, they're surprisingly simple to make and require only a few ingredients.

Though they're delectable on their own, blogger A Smart Mouth ingeniously elevated them even further, using them as the "stained glass" center of gingerbread cookies -- and promises that "they're divine." The cookies even serve as edible Christmas ornaments -- though we can't imagine they'd last too long on the tree before being devoured.

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The kids and I spent 3 days last week in the Southern Adirondacks. A family friend, who is quite an outdoorsman, and experienced birdwatcher, purchased about 40 acres a couple years ago near Hinckley Reservoir in upstate New York. He has been telling me that I need to come up for a visit, and we finally took him up on the offer. One thing that he mentioned in advance of the visit was that he wanted me to show him what was edible on his property. The next several posts will all be from that visit.

We've been baking cookies like crazy around these parts, all December long. I'm giving my rolling pin and baking sheets a break today and dipping into the archives to bring you some cookies from our archives.

Looking for a recipe that will look gorgeous on your buffet? These Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons are alternating stripes of red and white and are awfully nice to look at and will be tasty to boot.

Nicole's Vanilla Cut-Out Cookies incorporate buttermilk for a soft consistency that isn't cake-like. She also brought us Gingersnaps Two Ways last holiday season.

Want an easy, seasonal cookie? What about this Cranberry, Orange and Dark Chocolate Chip cookie? It's a quick mixing drop cookie with a great taste.

For the chocolate lovers in the crowd, check out these Chocolate Peppermint Drops.

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I meant to make a batch of these homemade Peppermint Patties as soon as I saw Anne's post about them on her blog, Anne's Food, but didn't quite get around to it in the midst of all my holiday baking. Fortunately, they're not only a seasonal item, so I won't feel obligated to wait until another year goes by to try them out! The simple candies only have a few ingredients - egg whites, confectioners' sugar, peppermint extract and vanilla - and turn out a treat that is good enough to rival any similar store-bought product.

Once you have made the centers, you can dip them into the chocolate of your choosing. Anne used a good-quality dark chocolate, which is always a good match for mint, but you can choose milk or white chocolate (adding decorations), if you prefer. I also like the idea of using other flavorings along with the peppermint. Chocolate extract, which is available in many cooking supply stores, sounds like it might work just as well as the vanilla.

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Ice cream in the winter - why not? It's warm indoors, so there is no reason not to indulge in a frozen treat. This Peppermint Ice Cream was made by Elise, of Simply Recipes. She made the ice cream base herself and flavored it with some peppermint extract before folding in crushed up candy canes. The advantage, as Elise points out, to making the ice cream base yourself is not just in the fact that you can flavor it in any way you see fit, but that you know exactly what you are getting and aren't limited to what you can buy at the store. For example, there are no emulsifiers or preservatives in homemade ice cream, so even though it is very rich and contains a generous number of egg yolks that provide the "divinely creamy" texture, you can still feel good about eating it.

I suspect that this ice cream would also make fantastic ice cream sandwiches if softened and spread in between two chocolate chip cookies.

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