Peppermint Patty Shortbreads
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:30 cookies
- 1cup/230 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
- 1cup/205 grams granulated sugar
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 1 to 2large egg yolks
- 2½cups/320 grams all-purpose flour (see Tip)
- 2drops peppermint extract
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- ½cup honey
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 4teaspoons powdered gelatin
- 4ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- ½cup heavy cream
- Crushed candy canes or starlight mints, for topping
Dough (or Use Half-batch of Butter Shortbread Dough)
For Finishing
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (30 servings)
199 calories; 9 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 29 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 20 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 98 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar and salt. Beat on low speed until incorporated and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, about 3 minutes. (Do not beat until fluffy, you don’t need to incorporate air into the dough.) Add the yolk and mix until just combined. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Step 2
Add the flour to the bowl all at once and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer speed to low and beat until flour is fully incorporated, scraping the bowl again if needed, about 30 seconds. The dough will be in large crumbles.
- Step 3
(If you’re starting with a half batch of Butter Shortbread Dough, start here.) Add a drop of the peppermint extract to the dough and mix in using your hands. (If the dough feels too crumbly to come together, mix in an additional egg yolk before proceeding). Turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper and pat into a 5- by 7-inch rectangle. Place another sheet of parchment over the top and roll the dough into a ¼-inch-thick piece. Use a floured cookie cutter to stamp out the cookies, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, spacing at least ½ inch apart. You can push the dough scraps back together and reroll as many times as necessary. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown at the bottom edges, rotating the pan once halfway through baking, about 13 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Step 4
Prepare the marshmallow filling: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, honey, salt and ¼ cup water. Stir just to incorporate. Cook without stirring over medium-high until the sugar dissolves and the temperature of the syrup reaches 240 degrees, about 5 minutes. (Use an instant read thermometer or clip a candy thermometer to the pan to get an accurate reading.)
- Step 5
Meanwhile, add ¼ cup water to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle in the gelatin and gently stir with a spatula to moisten the grains. Allow the gelatin to hydrate, or bloom, about 3 minutes, while the sugar mixture cooks.
- Step 6
When the sugar syrup reaches 240 degrees, and the gelatin in the bowl has bloomed, turn the mixer on low, and slowly add the sugar syrup in an even stream. Increase the speed to high and whip the mixture until the meringue is thick, holds its peaks, has doubled in volume and cooled to room temperature, 7 to 10 minutes. In the last minute of mixing, add the remaining drop of peppermint extract. Scoop the mixture into a piping bag, seal the top by twisting and set aside while you make the ganache.
- Step 7
Make the ganache: Transfer the chocolate pieces to a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream gently over low heat until it just begins to steam, 4 to 5 minutes. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate pieces. Allow the chocolate and cream mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache is smooth.
- Step 8
To assemble: Snip the end of the piping bag to create a small opening. Pipe peaked mounds of the peppermint marshmallow mixture on the top of each cookie. If the marshmallow is running off, allow it to cool another minute or two in the bag at room temperature.
- Step 9
Dip each cookie, marshmallow top down into the chocolate until the marshmallow is completely coated. Once all the cookies have been dipped, decorate with the crushed candy canes. Allow the chocolate to cool completely and set. Keep the cooled cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Tip
- If using volume measurements, using a spoon, fluff and scoop the flour into a measuring cup, then scrape with a straight edge to level the surface. This will help prevent adding too much flour which can yield overly crumbly dough.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Chiara
I'll try to transform some ingredients of the finishing in metrics (please NYT Cooking, complete measurements in metrics also in this recipe, thank you!), as in patisserie is more precise. Finishing: 2drops peppermint extract 200 grams granulated sugar 170g honey ½ teaspoon kosher salt 12,5g powdered gelatin 113g semisweet chocolate 120g heavy cream
Dragonflyfarm
Ballpark size of cookie cutter for the expected number of finished cookies?
Blossom
These look heavenly! I adore chocolate with mint! Even better than crushed candy canes or pepoermints, if you can find them, are Andes peppermint crunch baking chips. Nor as hard on the teeth, and they have the addition of white chocolate.
Martha
Why is the peppermint extract kneaded into the dough instead of being added with the butter, sugar and salt? It seems that it would mix in better at that stage.
karaiz
These were OK. I rolled the dough into logs, refrigerated it, and cut it to 1/4-inch thick. Worked fine if less elegant. I got about 55-60 cookies (not 30!), but I can't imagine them being twice as big? I forgot to add the peppermint to the dough, but I don't think that was the missing spark it needed. I recommend NOT piping the marshmallow in a rising spiral as they looked a bit like, umm, something unappetizing when coated in chocolate. It was all nice but not wow enough for the effort.
Laura
Made these yesterday, and there was absolutely no chance of that marshmallow mixture going anywhere when inverted. It's super sticky. More of a concern was the biscuit base crumbling if squeezed too hard.
melissa
I'm thinking I might just purchase marshmallows and stick them to the cookie with melted chocolate then dip in ganache. Or possibly making a merengue cookie recipe with egg whites to pipe on the cookie and then dipped.
lbn
I suspect because this originally comes from an article that has you make one dough and split it for two recipes. You wouldn't want the peppermint for the second recipe, so you have to add it after the dough is made and split. If you're just doing this recipe, I don't see why you couldn't add it earlier.
Sarah
Has anyone tried this using agar-agar?
Sarina
If the NYT thinks making marshmallow and piping it onto cookies is “simple,” I’d hate to see what they think is hard. That stuff stuck to EVERYTHING. It was basically impossible to get it out of the mixing bowl, let alone into the piping bag. Won’t make these again-life is too short.
Zoesera
If you have a steady hand, use a tiny drop or so of peppermint oil, not extract. It may take a little more care but the payoff is a more true flavor
shawna
The shortbread cookies are great, but I could never get the marshmallow filling to set. I ended up just dipping the shortbread in peppermint-flavored ganache and calling it good.
Leslie
After reading the comments and looking at the amount of gelatin used, I decided to risk using a little bit less. I added 3 tsp. and had no trouble with it being set enough to dip it in the chocolate or piping it onto the cookie. I made them for my 3rd grade class and they gave it 5 stars :-).
Carolyn Delacorte
You can alternately use the marshmallow topping as construction adhesive to glue down loose shingles on your roof (gingerbread house anyone?) it’s the stickiest thing I’ve ever stirred up in my mixer (smelled heavenly) and it was not going into a piping bag for all the tea in China…however I did find that if I wet my fingers a little I could scoop it into a reasonable snowball and attach it to the cookie that way. The end result is similar to a neat s’mores.
chefliz
I made these last night for a party with the following adjustments: added 2-3 drops of peppermint extract with the egg yolk instead of kneading it in for even distribution and to avoid overworking the dough, omitted the marshmallow, doubled the ganache (will have some left) and added 2-3 drops of peppermint extract to ganache once it was all incorporated. The cookies were a huge hit and everyone agreed that the marshmallow layer was unnecessary. Omit and save yourself some time!
philly girl
Agree with others. Don’t repeat unless you enjoy having a nervous breakdown while your grandchildren watch! And the taste after all the hours of frustration was not worth it!
philly girl
Agree with all the comments on the marshmallow. Life is too short. Finished product’s appearance was not worth the time and effort. How on earth does the ganache go on in a smooth circle? Won’t make these again. Ever.
stacy
I forgot to get gelatin at the store so after reading through the notes I decided to simplify the recipe by just having the ganache and candy canes on top of the shortbread. I also followed someone’s advice about mixing the peppermint oil in with the sugar. They are beautiful and tasty! I ended up with about 58 2inch cookies which used the total ganache mixture.
NameGSC
Be careful about the honey you use. Apparently my honey was very fragrant and overpowers the rest of the flavors.
Spike
These are great and totally worth the effort. I recommend a gallon ziplock in lieu of the piping bag. And be firm when pressing the fluff into the ganache. I got much better results once I got a bit braver on my second tray. Also note: the ones that look too dark to give away are the tastiest. Keep those for yourself.
Sydney
I've made these twice. The marshmallow is definitely sticky but it pipes well. One dollop in the center seemed to work best, piping until it spread out to reach the edges of the cookies. The ganache has failed both times - all the cream makes it way too runny and it drips off the cookies, leaving the marshmallows only semi-covered. I had much better luck with plain chocolate melted in 30 second intervals in the microwave.
Matt W
If you want a difficult recipe that includes the stickiest homemade marshmallow that will get all over you, this is the one. Don’t even think about putting it in the piping bag. I finally got there and they tasted great, but my wife had to rescue me from marshmallow Armageddon in the meantime.
Rebecca
Instead of dealing with the marshmallow nonsense pipping, I recommend spooning the marshmallow into one cookie, putting another on top to make a sandwich and then dipping half the sandwich in the ganache.
Tracy
I had to make two batches cause I watched the first one go wrong at the adding the peppermint extract to the marshmallow stage…as soon as I added it, the mixture changed from perfect marshmallow to more of a marshmallow fluff that would not hold. The second batch I added the peppermint extract with the sugar mixture, and just added more than prescribed. The marshmallow was wonderful, held it’s shape and still tasted like peppermint. These are like holiday mallomars, absolutely wonderful.
Janet
I had read remarks on making these and decided that I was up for the challenge! Shortbread cookies where simple to make and used a 2” cutter. The marshmallow was sticky as expected but managed. We had to spread the marshmallow around the cookie with a small knife. The only different they that we did was to double dip the cookie in the ganache. These will be made again!
MH
Very good! Per another commenter's suggestion, used only 3 tsp gelatin and found the marshmallow sticky but not prohibitively so. Making disposable piping bags out of waxed paper also helped. I omitted the peppermint extract from the shortbread base, as incorporating it into the refrigerated dough seemed too fussy. More of a project than most cookies, but they turned out both tasty and surprisingly beautiful!
Dave
Meh. More trouble than they are worth. Only OK tasting. Messy to make and I have no clue how to get them to look like the picture.
MSCosta
These are tasty but that marshmallow layer is a nightmare. I felt like I was fighting an alien trying to get it in the piping bag. I lost.
sylvia
These took forever to make! Then they needed to be eaten right away as the shortbread gets soggy and the peppermint melts…
Becky
I was so excited to make this recipe because I love the combination of chocolate and peppermint. But almost nothing worked about it. I couldn’t find anything in the article about the size to make the cookies. They didn’t taste nearly enough like peppermint. FYI: I tried to make the marshmallow with agar-agar instead of gelatin and that didn’t work (not the creator’s fault). The chocolate never really melted for the ganache, so the ganache was runny and also didn’t taste strongly of peppermint.
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