It's Friday! Which means most people are excited because it's the weekend, but every day is the weekend for me right now. Being unemployed has its perks.
How about some of this?
Peppermint Crunch is one of my favourite childhood treats. My mum used to make it for us for coffee time, after school snacks and what I used to call 'second pudding' after tea in the evening. The recipe for Peppermint Crunch is from the famous green book I mentioned in my post Grandma's Pancakes.
Although incredibly hard to read and stained from past afternoons spent baking in the kitchen, this recipe is one to be treasured.
It is exactly what it says it is - pepperminty and crunchy. The base - a combination of cornflakes, butter, sugar and flour - is baked in the oven, then topped with a thick layer of peppermint icing and melted dark chocolate. It makes for a traditionally British sweet. Think Fry's peppermint cream, After Eights, Bendicks Bittermints... But nicer - homemade always is ;)
Enjoy with a cup of tea. I drink green tea, sometimes with lemon, or jasmine, often just plain. I'm not a fan of regular tea unless it's black. I have a funny dislike for milk in hot drinks.
Recipe for Peppermint Crunch
Ingredients:
(For base)
- Four handfuls of cornflakes
- One tbsp cocoa powder
- One cup of plain flour
- One tsp baking powder
- Half cup of brown sugar
- 110g butter
- Pinch salt
(For topping)
- Icing sugar
- 2 tsp peppermint essence
- Water
- 200g dark chocolate
Method:
Preheat your oven to about 200°C
Using your fingers, crush the cornflakes into a mixing bowl - not too finely though. You want a mixture of fine and big pieces.
Melt the butter in the microwave and add to the crushed cornflakes.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix until it looks a bit like this:
If it's a bit too sticky, add some more crushed cornflakes. If it is too crumbly and dry, add a tad more melted butter.
Press the mixture into a lined square/rectangular tin.
Pop into the oven for about fifteen minutes.
When it's done it should look slightly lighter in colour and smell yummy.
While the base is still warm, mix the peppermint essence in with the icing sugar. You'll need a fair amount of water (just boiled is best) to turn it into typical icing consistency. There are no real measurements for this part - just do it according to how minty you want it. You can always add a bit more peppermint later, and icing sugar if it's too runny. The more icing, the better, in my opinion. It needs to spread over the base easily.
Leave to set for about an hour, or in the fridge for half an hour.
When the peppermint icing has set on top of the base, melt the chocolate and spread over it.
Leave to set in the fridge for about half an hour. It's best to cut it up when the chocolate topping is still slightly soft - otherwise it may crack. Cut into squares or bars. I stored mine in a tupperware box, and it will keep for about five days (if it's not all eaten before!)
Do you think you'll make some Peppermint Crunch? It is such a cheap and easy alternative to your average supermarket biscuit/cake, and tastes dee-lish. I ended up scoffing about three squares of this yesterday... And as a result am having a sweet free day today. Don't say I didn't warn you.
