An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
An Easy No-Bake Treat:
Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
This will be a short post, as I have been on the road all day (well, on the rails actually, or should that be off the rails!) – but, these delicious easy no-bake treats, Chocolate Peppermint Squares, need to be shared as the recipe is just so easy (as the title suggests) and it’s just a matter of crushing, melting and chilling – no baking at all is required in this recipe. I made these a couple of weeks ago, for my friend Lynn’s 50th Birthday Picnic party, which, you can read about here: Picnics, Salads and Paella! Under the Willow Tree with Salmon Spread and Russian Salad. The tray of these minty squares that I took along to the picnic vanished in a trice and I have been asked to share the recipe with several of my friends. The original recipe was found on an American website – Very Best Baking (a commercial site run by Nestlé) and can be found here: Easy No-Bake Creamy Chocolate Mint Bars, but, I tweaked it to metric measurements, and also added and changed a few ingredients too, as you will see if you compare the two recipes.
An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
The original recipe calls for NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels and chocolate wafer cookies – I used 75% cocoa solids chocolate in place of the semi-sweet chocolate morsels, and double chocolate chip cookies in place of the chocolate wafer cookies. I also added a VERY British ingredient to the minty filling, a Kendal Mint Cake! It added a really fresh minty taste, as well as making the filling a little firmer.
An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
As these cheeky little chocolate squares have MINT in them, they make an excellent candidate for this month’s We Should Cocoa, a fabulous chocolate challenge hosted by Choclette over at Chocolate Log Blog; this month, the guest host is the lovely Victoria from A Kick in the Pantry Door, and the theme is……..as you may have guessed, MINT! I think that mint makes for a very happy marriage when hitched with chocolate, just think of all the lovely choc-mint treats that there are out there……After Eight Mints, Elizabeth Shaw’s Mints, Aero Bars and many more. As well as one of my favourite ice creams, choc-chip mint.
An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
The link to the original recipe has been shared above, but, I have also recorded the recipe as I made it below; the measurements are in metric, and may not correlate exactly to the original recipe, but they worked for me. I also discovered that the few bits and pieces of these peppermint chocolate squares that were left, more crumbs than squares, were excellent when crumbled into some vanilla ice cream! That’s all for today, I am off to have a long soak in the bath and then it’s an early night with one of my new cookbooks, bliss! See you later and have a wonderful evening, Karen
Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
320g x 75% cocoa solids chocolate, broken into small pieces
225g butter
85g bar of Kendal Mint Cake, melted
380g chocolate chip cookies, I used double chocolate chip cookies, crushed
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons peppermint essence or extract, divided
4 drops of green food colouring
320g icing sugar
METHOD:
Butter a 9″ square baking tin.
Melt 100g of the chocolate with 75g of the butter (in a microwave is best) and then add it to the crushed cookies, then press them into the base of the buttered baking tin. Allow to chill in a fridge or a freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes, until it is firm and cold.
Beat 100g of the butter with half of the peppermint essence/extract and then gradually add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the melted and cooled Kendal mint cake and mix well again. Add the food colouring, a drop at a time until the desired colour has been achieved. Spread this over the chilled cookie base and allow to chill once again, for about 10 minutes.
Melt the remaining chocolate with the rest of the butter and the peppermint essence/extract, again in the microwave is best, and then when the chocolate has melted, beat until the chocolate and butter is smooth and amalgamated. Allow to stand for 10 minutes until it is cooler, but not set and then pour or spoon over the peppermint filling. Chill the squares for 2 hours until they are firm, then allow to come to room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting into squares. Makes about 18 to 24 squares.
An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
An Easy No-Bake Treat: Chocolate Peppermint Squares Recipe
This recipe was made by Amy for the Secret Recipe Club, Group D, August 2013 reveal day!
They look great. And very simple 🙂
Thanks Rachel, these are easy to make and are no-bake too!
Karen, you are a genius. These look so mouthwatering, but I just love, love, love your addition of kendel mint cake.
Thanks Choclette, I have to admit to feeling pretty smug about that very British of ingredients! 🙂
And forgot to say, thank you for entering these complete delights into We Should Cocoa – bring them on.
It’s my pleasure – I missed last month and I was determined to make it this month!
Absolutely delicious, a wondrous sweet treat.
Thanks! They were indeed a minty sweet treat! Karen
These look delicious. I love chocolate and mint too. And they would be really easy to adapt gluten free!
Thanks Kate, yes, would be easy to convert to gluten-free and a lovely treat too!
Yes please, pass the WHOLE tray over 🙂 I love mint & chocolate and no bake recipes so a definite winner for me. Hope you enjoy a well deserved rest x
Thanks Ros, yes, a no bake recipe is GOOD! Especially after a blow-out weekend like ours! Karen
These treats look really delicious, love the pictures!
YUM! I am not sure I need to say more! (I will be making these lovely treats with the kids asap 🙂
love the melted kendal mint cake, what a fab idea!… these look so pretty but so great to know they’re so easy to make.. which is always dangerous!
This looks amazing and really refreshing like a better version of an after 8 cake I really am going to have to make this 🙂
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wow these look fab and easy to do!
What a good idea and they look delicious, one to make with the children I think!
To paraphrase a well known movie “You had me at ‘No-Bake'”! And then I saw the photos! These look seriously delicious, thank you so much for linking up with We Should Cocoa this month.
I love Kendal mint cakes. They always remind me of ‘home’ (England, though I now live in Australia so both are home really!). What a beautiful idea to add one to this gloriously minty, chocolatey slice! Yum! Definitely trying this Karen. Thanks! x
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this is so easy to make and went down so well 🙂
I have everything except Kendal Mint Cake. Hope it’s easy to get. They look really good.
Those look beautiful and remind me of Nanaimo bars (a Canadian treat, with a custard powder flavouring, rather than mint).
Mmmmm these look lovely! Thanks for sharing!
I like the no bake recipe, especially on hot days.
These look very tasty! Looking forward to making them with my daugher 🙂
Well I made these this afternoon and they really are as tasty as they look. Cant wait for my partner to get home from work and try some. Thank you very much for the recipe! 🙂
Thanks so much for letting me know Claire! Karen 🙂
Mmmm looks yummy! Love chocolate and mint together.
these look amazing, going to try and make some this week
Erm… Wow! These look amazing!
These look great just the sort of thing I like to make because it’s easy and it’s chocolate!
Wonderful – shared via G+ Thanks!
will definitely be trying these with kids this summer
Ooh my hubby would love me forever if I made him these – although Kendal Mint cake isnt so easy to find up here… 🙁
I need to make these NOW! 🙂
ooh these look gorge! Thanks for the recipe xx
Wow, those look so amazing. I bet mine wouldn’t look so good though!
they look yummy and easy to make too 🙂
heavenly!!! Takes me back to cookery class at school 🙂 x
lovely- will have to give this a try
These look so good! xx
they look lush!
I love Kendal mint cake but I’ve never seen it in a recipe! 🙂
Oh i am going to have to try making these over the weekend they look fab but not complicated xoxox
Shared on Twitter, @maisietoo 🙂
These look gorgeous Karen!!!
Thanks so much Helen! 🙂
Absolutley fablousX Likd and shared this Thanks angel XX
Mmmm I love kendal mint cake, so I’m going to have to try these. I’ll on bake if the oven is already on for dinner, so it’s handy to have a non bake recipe for times when the ovens not on.
Why are the measurements in metric? Can you translate to english please?
Sorry, but I had to translate them from US cups to metric, as it was easier! Metric is English too, but I know that Imperial measures are still popular and I use them myself when I am baking old family recipes! I will try to find an on-line conversion site and come back and post the conversions for you. Karen
Here we go Christine! A NEW conversions page for you! http://wp.me/P287Dn-5i
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Still dreaming of chocolate and looking for ideas! This looks fab for chocolate week celebrations!
These were my favourite when I was a very small child. I can still remember the cafe my mum took me to before we moved house when I was 5! Vohn x
They look delicious and ‘easy’ is always good for me.
very yummy in my tummy
look amazing
Ooh. These look delicious. A great one to make with the kids too.
These look great. I love mint and chocolate together. Must try them.
Have pinned to my Pinterest thingy.
Great for the grandchildren to make and taste great too
These look fun and very tasty
These look amazing and easy to male
These look delicious and are so quick and simple to make, I’m going to have a go at baking them at Christmas with my nephew 🙂
Oooh yummy, cant wait to make these!
These look really delicious and easy as well! Thanks for the recipe!
Whenever I’m looking for new recipes ‘no-bake’ is one of the first terms I search for due to my oven never doing exactly what the dial settings tell it to. This is a fantastic recipe, thanks 🙂
i’ve never been a great fan of peppermint but these look as though they’ve come out really nice! they might make a lovely afternoon tea addition at some point! with love, faye xx
oh gosh going to have to make these with my 7 year old. she loves anything minty and chocolatey!
They look yummy. My boys love chocolate and mint so will make some during the school hols 🙂
I must try them, they look lovely
These look delicious, will be giving them a go.
these little bites of naughtiness looks so entising definattley going to make them
Just made these yesterday – wow. Great compliments by everyone!!
So tasty
Will definately be trying my hand at these!
These look melt in your mouth fantastic! Kendal mint cake, haven’t heard about that for years.
Look and taste delicious
Easy to make, simple. Look tasty. My kinda weekend cooking!
The cake look amazing, want to try the recipe soon!
I’ve just shown these to my wife & apparently she’s going to make some on the weekend when the family are here. She was excited by the thought! I must say they look wonderful, it’s a great idea.
These look amazing. I have found that it is sometimes a challenge to recreate my fave recipes from when I lived in the US so this is great!! Thanks.
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These look really great – will be making them this weekend
I am definitely going to be making these this weekend thanks for the great recipe!
These look delicious & I love that you used Kendall Mint cake in the recipe, what a fantastic idea (I have noted this in the back of my brain!). I will definitely be producing a batch of these for my kids – I’m sure they’ll really enjoy them. Can’t see them hanging around for too long either! Well done & thank you so much for sharing this recipe x
Thanks Fiona, with half term looming over the horizon, these no bake treats will be great to make with children in the kitchen too!
Oh my! These look yummy! I love that they are no bake too. No chance of a kitchen disaster like me ruining them lol x
These look just like a tray bake my gran used to make. I’ve never cooked/baked with Kendal Mint Cake although it is one of my favourite sweets. Your squares look fabulous and a real treat.
Happy memories of cooking classes at school. I had forgotten about making these, can’t wait to try them again.
I just got back from my annual hol to the UK, sadly mint cake free. Hmmm,maybe someone will send me some.
You can buy mint cake on-line Valerie – from Amazon, so maybe you can bake or NOT bake your chocolate peppermint squares!
Oooh thanks. I will see if I can find a place that delivers to Asia.
I hope you can Valerie! K 🙂