With a smooth, minty center and thin chocolate coating, Homemade Peppermint Patties are divine.  The dark coating against the white patty center makes them beautiful too.  Make a batch, eat a few–box some up to give as a gift or stack them high on a party treat platter.  These Homemade Peppermint Patties will be a favorite with all who try them.  There’s no such thing as taking just one. 😉As a child, I remember my mom and aunt getting together around the holidays to hand-dip homemade chocolates.  It was a day I looked forward to every year.  Now that I’m all grown-up, I, my mom and sisters all get together once a year to make, dip and mold homemade chocolates.  It’s still a day I look forward to each year. 🙂 I became familiar with this creamy fondant center recipe through my mom–she’s had it and shared it with so many over the years.  It’s a great base recipe that can be used for so many different flavors: mint, orange, cherry, lemon… the list goes on and on.  For these little minty patties, the cream center recipe will be given a minty makeover.  The ingredients are simple and few but soooo amazingly perfect.You can find the full printable recipe below.  Start by adding the cream and sugar in a large heavy sauce pan.  I use an old pressure cooker with very solid thick sides.  This helps distribute the heat evenly.   Let the sugar and cream soak together for about 10 minutes.Next, turn the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a slow boil.  Have a pastry basting brush and cup of water ready because the sides of the pan will need to be washed down several times to avoid sugar crystallization.  I even wash the sides down before it begins to boil.  Stir constantly so the sugar doesn’t burn.  Once it begins to boil, add corn syrup.  This will help eliminate sugar crystals from forming and making the centers go grainy<–not a good thing.Using a calibrated candy thermometer (see the bottom of this post for more information on how to calibrate your thermometer), cook the cream center mixture until it reaches 236 degrees Fahrenheit.  Make sure to stir constantly and continue washing down the sides to avoid sugar crystals.Once 236 degrees is met, pour onto a damp,cool marble slab, cookie sheet or into a chilled mixing bowl.  The thicker the mixture during cooling, the longer it will take to cool.  Also, don’t pour the hot mixture into or on glass because it can make the glass shatter.  Place 1 Tablespoon butter in the center of the batch.Cool slightly then begin beating with a wooden spoon or in an electric mixer with a bread hook attachment.  It can take a while for the chemical reaction to happen.  The mixture will go from a runny, slightly opaque, ivory color to a creamy white firm dough.   As the cream center begins to turn, it will put off a heavenly, creamy aroma.  Once that happens, it’s starting to turn and it’s almost done.  If the batch turns and quickly becomes stiff, it’s okay.  Add the flavoring now or store the cream center in a Ziploc bag until you’re ready to use it.  You can flavor the center right before forming and dipping them in chocolate.I like peppermint patties that are no bigger than about an inch in diameter.  If you are the same way, a teaspoon size is perfect.  I use a .25 oz (1 1/2 teaspoon) scoop, that’s not quite full, to portion the patties out.  I like doing it this way because it gives some consistency to the size of the patties and really makes them look nice.  If the center is too soft or sticky during this stage, chill to stiffen.Once the balls are rolled, lightly press each one into a patty.   If they become sticky when forming into patties, chill again.  These sweet minty treats are so great to make when it’s cool outside because it’s easy to stick them outside to chill.  I stick my trays on a table in our garage to help stiffen the center and harden the chocolate.The amount of patties you end up with will vary depending on the size of patties made.  I usually end up with 2 to 2 1/2 cookie sheets of formed patties and about 3 trays dipped depending on how close I space them.Once the patties are chilled, they are ready for a dip in the melted chocolate.  You can use any chocolate you’d like.  I prefer dark chocolate. It makes the white center pop against the dark chocolate… gorgeous!  Completely coat the patty and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.  Chill until chocolate is set and enjoy!The cream center base is very versatile.  It’s great to make creamy fruit flavors like raspberry, cherry, orange, and lemon.  It’s also excellent for the butter flavored cream center in this Almond Butter Truffle.Do you make chocolates at Christmas?  Which flavor is your favorite?To calibrate a thermometer, put the thermometer into boiling water.  Water boils at 212 degrees at sea level.  Look up the boiling point of water for your altitude here.  Read the temperature of your thermometer when the water boils.  If it doesn’t match the boiling temperature for your altitude, you will need to adjust your recipe temperature by the difference between the boiling point at your elevation and the reading you took on the thermometer.  For example, if my thermometer reads 202 degrees when the water boils at sea level, my thermometer reads 10 degrees less than accurate.  This means when I cook a candy that needs to reach 285 degrees, I will have reached 285 degrees when my thermometer reads 275 degrees (more or less assuming the error in the thermometer is constant across all temperatures).