chocolate peppermint kisses

These chocolate peppermint kisses are very far removed from the original Norwegian “melting moments” I enjoyed way back in the 90’s! For many years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity of spending Christmas in Norway with my lovely friend Marita and her family. It was a special holiday full of firsts; we drove through the snow into the mountains (in “snowsuits”) to choose Christmas trees which we hacked down and dragged back to the car! We visited a local fishing village to choose which of the freshly caught cod would be our traditional Christmas (eve) dinner. We went for a walk in insane storms, ate ice creams in the icy conditions, got to dance around the Christmas tree and participate in celebrating the twelve days of Christmas… we also ate fabulously and laughed regularly.

During that holiday Marita’s mum and older brother baked up a storm, fresh bread every day and fresh biscuits too. I learnt how to make their “melting moments” which are delicious, melt in your mouth, Norwegian, Christmas vanilla ball shaped biscuits. Their recipe was full of butter and gluten which was not an issue back then. Since I had Aars I discovered they work just as well without the butter and gluten, you can try my adaption of their recipe with my vanilla and raspberry kisses.

Last year I adapted them further to create a delicious christmassy chocolate and peppermint kiss. I love the freshness of the peppermint with the warm richness of the chocolate biscuit. I make them dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free with cocoa so they are not sweet, then I add a “butter” cream flavoured with peppermint – transforming them into little kisses!

gluten-free & vegan chocolate-peppermint-kisses

• Yield:

  64 biscuits (32 kisses)

• Cooking Method:

  baking

• Prep Time:

  15 mins

• Cook Time:

  15 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan

These chocolate peppermint kisses are a fresh and yummy combo. For folk like Aars who can't eat After Eights these little melt-in-your-mouth chocolate biscuits, with a spot of peppermint icing are more than compensation! 

Ingredients:

• 6 oz sunflower spread
• 2 oz icing sugar
• 6 ½ oz gluten-free self raising flour
• 1½ oz raw cacao powder*
• PEPPERMINT B*TTER CRE*M ICING
• 2½ oz sunflower spread
• 1C icing sugar
• 1 tsp peppermint extract

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC and prep a baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl beat the spread &sugar thoroughly. When it's nicely creamed add the flour & raw cacao powder* and mix well.

   

2. Even though the mix seems wet & cloying it rolls into little balls surprisingly well. Place your little rolled balls of dough on waiting baking tray, then flatten them with two fingers. Pop into the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Place on a colling rack once cooked and ensure they are cold before making into peppermint kisses (otherwise residue heat will melt the icing!).

4. To make the peppermint b*tter cre*m beat the sugar into the spread then add the peppermint extract. When the biscuits are cold you can put a dot of icing on one and then squidge another biscuit on top. Job done! 

Notes:

*if you don't have raw cacao powder use cocoa powder

The biscuits (with no icing) freeze brilliantly and take less than an hour to defrost so I tend to make a mass of them and pop them in the freezer in a sealed bag, ready to whip out if people drop by. I keep the icing in an airtight container in the fridge so the biscuits can be transformed into kisses at a moments notice. 

B*TTER CRE*M icing is butter-free, better-cre*m icing, it's 100% vegan and I use the *s to avoid confusion - as there is no butter or cream in our recipe.