Sunday 26 December 2010

Minty Christmas!

The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.
-
Neuromancer by William Gibson


The dessert place at our Christmas lunch...

I have a thing for peppermint chocolate so it wasn't surprising that
I fell instantly in love with Revel's mint slice. So what better way to spend Christmas Eve than trying to concoct my own version!!


Mint Slice

Base
125g margarine, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup coconut thread

Mint Filling
3 Tbsp margarine, room temperature
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/4-1/2 tsp peppermint essence
1-2 Tbsp milk (oat, soy, rice etc)

Chocolate topping
250g (1 block) Whittaker's Ghana Peppermint Chocolate (or any block of chocolate really but I only had this one on hand...)
1 Tbsp margarine

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 20 x 20cm square baking tin with baking paper.

Base
Cream together the margarine and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the rest of the ingredients until just combined and then press into the prepared baking tin. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Let cool.

Mint Filling
Beat the margarine until light and fluffy and then slowly add the icing sugar whilst beating. Add the peppermint essence and milk until you reach your desired consistency. Spread the filling over the top of the cooled base.

Melt the chocolate and the margarine together and then spread gently over the mint filling. Chill until firm enough to cut into slices (about 20 pieces...).

Eat.

5 comments:

  1. Oh yes please! Mint slices weren't something I ate regularly as a kid but I do like the interplay of cooling peppermint with intense dark chocolate. I also love the way you call coconut "coconut thread"! Have never heard that before - is it what I'd call desiccated coconut? Are you going to tell us about the ottttther pretty-lookin' things on the plate? :)

    P.S. Merry Christmas!!

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  2. that looks amazing!! I LOVE that mint slice at Revel - definitely going to try this recipe :)

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  3. That looks Amazing. I wish we ahd more whittakers chocolate blocks to choose from here. I love the dark ghana.

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  4. Choc mint slice! How exciting! These look great.

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  5. Hey Hannah... desiccated coconut is finer. Coconut thread is, um, the longer stuff...?!! I can't think of a better way to describe it! But desiccated would work fine too. I only had the thread.

    Merry Christmas too!!!

    Oh, and there may or may not be chocolate winging its way across the Tasman...(M is worried the plane might crash due to the enormous weight of chocolate)!

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