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.

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.

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.

It's time to break out the flour, cookbooks and parchment paper and start doing some holiday baking. Aside from an increase in the amount of red and green sprinkles used for decorating, there isn't anything that really separates a Christmas cookie from a regular cookie, but there are some seasonal flavors that are going to be a bit more prevalent in these seasonal treats. This month, we're going to put up a new Christmas cookie recipe every week that will hopefully inspire you to bake a little bit before December 25h. Our first cookie recipe is for Chocolate Peppermint Drops.

These cookies have a deep, dark chocolate flavor and a moist texture, like a soft and slightly chewy brownie. In fact, they look just like little brownies. They taste very decadent and rich, so make sure to have a glass of milk or a cup of coffee at the ready to wash them down. The peppermint flavor comes from crushed up peppermint candies, although Andes mints or chopped up peppermint bark would make an excellent substitution.

By the end of the year, you can expect to see some new things from the company that produces the "curiously strong mints." Altoids are being released in three new chocolate-covered versions: chocolate mint, chocolate ginger and chocolate cinnamon. The three popular Altoids flavors will each be coated in a tin layer of dark chocolate, adding an interesting contrast to the slightly powdery, strongly-flavored candies.

This move should not come as a surprise, since chocolate is a natural pairing with all three flavors - not to mention the fact that many people have already been combining Altoids and chocolate on their own.

If you can't wait a couple of weeks to try them yourself, three tins are up for auction on eBay, one in each flavor. The proceeds of the auction are to be donated to the American Red Cross - which is a nice gesture, considering that the price for the three tins is up to over $180 and there is still a day to go in the auction!

[via Candyaddict]

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Mint Creams tempted me from their plastic containers, stacked appealingly close to me as I stood in line with my other purchases at Trader Joe's over the weekend. After a moment of hesitation, I gave in a tossed a box into my cart. And I am so glad that I did. These little candies are about an inch in diameter and are slightly domed. They taste like a cross between a junior mint and a York peppermint patty, with a filling that is creamy, but with a little bit of texture to it. The difference between those other candies and these is that the TJs dark chocolate shell is much thicker, providing the perfect compliment to the filling and a noticeable chocolate flavor. They're really good when chilled and end up tasting like a minty, bite-sized ice cream treat, which makes them incredibly refreshing (not to mention that it keeps them from melting) on a hot day.

Good nutrition, with well-balanced meals and lots of fruits and vegetables every day is obviously the best way to help your kids perform their best on standardized tests, but students are now turning to sucking on peppermints before exams. 

The peppermint craze is based on findings by Professor of Psychology in West Virginia, Bryan Raudenbush, who found that the smell of peppermint oil is associated with improved performance in athletes. Raudenbush applied different scents to athletes on treadmills, piped scents into locker rooms and gyms, then studied athletes'' performance. Peppermint seemed to have distracted people from boredom and helped to make them feel more energetic. It works because the smell of peppermint increases blood flow. Cinnamon has the same effect.

Peppermint has been added to so-called "brain foods" that teachers have been asking parents to feed their children -- white grape juice, dark chocolate, peanuts, carbohydrates and protein-rich meat.

Back when I was in high school, all I remember is my parents feeding me fish at every meal before my big exams.

Who didn’t hear the phrase “Don’t chew gum at school!” when they were growing up? Of course, this sort of instruction always encourages a few people to flout the rules and chew gum even more frequently. The main reason that gum chewing was frowned upon was that students would probably stick the used wads under the desk or on the floor, where other unsuspecting students might come into contact with them. For some reason, though, the teachers always claimed that the reason was that students couldn’t pay attention while chewing gum. This was a ridiculous excuse since people are more than capable of engaging in other activities while they chew, like walking, for example.

 If you're looking for something lighter than the usual holiday fare, Culinary in the Desert's Peppermint Kisses are sure to spark your fancy. These lighter-than-air meringues have a peppermint twist to their taste and a great holiday look. By piping the meringues onto the baking sheet and decorating them with festive sprinkles and multi-colored dragées, Joe dressed up these relatively plain treats into something worthy of Santa himself. Personally, I'm still a bit jealous that he is able to find the elusive dragées - and multi-colored ones, no less -  because they look like the perfect way to top off a kiss.