Recipe: Mint Truffle Cups

Mint Chocolate Truffles (sorry for the bad lighting)

Originally, I was going to make some sort of custom frosted cupcake or dessert for the Superbowl. But I was going to a party hosted by a friend who also does a lot of baking, and I knew there would be plenty of food as well as Superbowl-themed desserts. So I decided not to bake anything... until about two hours before it was time to go over. I just got the "itch." I casually flipped through some recipe books that I never use (mainly because most of them involve using pre-made doughs or batters), and stumbled upon this recipe for Mint Truffle Cups. The picture looked amazing (of course), and at first glance it seemed I had all the ingredients. Suddenly, I just HAD to make this dessert, and I had to do it RIGHT NOW. 

As I worked through the very simple recipe, I found out that I did not, in fact, have all the ingredients I needed; I was missing whipping cream and it was 4:00 on Superbowl Sunday. There was no way I was going to the grocery store, and D was busy making hot sauce for wings so I couldn't even use my charm to convince him to go. So I substituted butter and milk for whipping cream, but other than that followed the recipe exactly:

CRUST:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

FILLING:

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

TOPPING:

12 thin chocolate & green mints (i.e. Andes), unwrapped, coarsely chopped

1) In medium bowl, combine powdered sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg; blend well. Add flour and cocoa; mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 1-2 hours for easier handling. (Note: I lied when I said I followed the recipe exactly; I didn't have time to refrigerate the dough. It was tough to work with, but manageable if you don't mind your cups coming out kind of funny looking. Next time I'll try to plan ahead, but it doesn't seem to have been too much of a detriment at this point).

2) Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Place 1 piece in each of 24 ungreased mini muffin cups; press in bottom and up sides of each cup, level with tops of cups.

3) Bake for 13-16 minutes or until set. Cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pans.

4) Meanwhile, in medium saucepan, combine all filling ingredients. Heat over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Cool 20 minutes or until filling thickens slightly (this took longer than 20 minutes for me; I don't know why, but I can never get ganache to "thicken" in the time most recipes list!)

5) Spoon about 2 teaspoons filling into each baked chocolate cup. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until filling is set. Sprinkle chopped mints on top of each cookie; press in lightly. Store in refrigerator. Remove from fridge about 30 minutes before serving.

These are pretty easy ways to satisfy any chocolate-mint urge you might be having (or to use up that trace amount of peppermint extract left lingering in the bottle, which has been my dilemma). Next time I make them, I might experiment more with the crust dough or try some variations on the filling, but for the most part these are a great & easy treat (and the recipe makes just enough for a small gathering, instead of a large crowd like most mini-muffin pan recipes!) Also, I am really happy that I did not have excess filling left; many recipes like this have a hard time balancing the cookie : filling ratio, and this was perfect.

Any thoughts for ways to improve them? Or similar mint chocolate recipes that you know of?