Mint Chocolate Dipped Shortbread I Made It Ii

Mint Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

Cosmicmother 5 years ago
~Made for December 2018's Cookie Swap~

Mint Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies by DetroitTokyo

I wanted to make something with chocolate and mint for the kids and came across this. It's a small batch too, so perfect for me as I'd like to make a few samples of cookies this year!
I ended up rolling the dough into a log first and chilled. Not that I ignored the directions, I'm just used to making dough logs that way and didn't see the 'chill first than roll into a log' until after the fact! However I think cutting the chilled logs is easier to make clean slices. I got 30 tiny little cookies, about 1.5" across and 1/4" thick. The log was about 9.5" long. An 8" log would probably yield the 20 cookies the recipe calls for.
The bake went well and the cookies held their shape. When it was time to dip I thought the process would be fairly quick and easy. But when it came time to add the peppermint the chocolate immediately seized, like nothing I've seen before! It turned this luscious shiny runny chocolate into an instant ball of chocolate "dough". I thought maybe it got too hot or something, so I tried again, this time waiting a bit before adding the peppermint. And again, same thing. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, a good quality brand. And Clubhouse pure peppermint and mint extract.
Not wanting to waste more chocolate I researched online and read that the alcohol in the extract can bind with the sugars in the chocolate and seize it. If using white chocolate or milk chocolate chips you might not have problems since it has more cocoa butter and milk ingredients. So lesson learned, if using semi-sweet or darker chocolate- add heavy cream or butter to the chocolate! Or use peppermint oil instead of extract.
I didn't want to try again so I tried fixing the seized chocolate by adding spoonful's of boiling water. The chocolate was grainy and a little gloopy but edible--I wasn't going for looks anyhow as it's just the kids eating them! ;)
The kids loved them, and the hubby too. For me the peppermint overpowered the cookie. You don't get that rich buttery taste of the shortbread, therefore I wouldn't use a shortbread for this. A rolled cookie dough like sugar or sable would be great.. Or perhaps a chocolate shortbread with a white chocolate peppermint. But the kids loved them and that's all that matters! :)
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DIZ3 5 years ago said:

OMG! Awesome photo, Cosmicmother! Those jumped right off my computer screen. I'm glad your kids enjoyed them. I've learned that kids really don't notice or care about those things as much as we, the baker, care. As long as it's sweet and sugary, they love it! I'm sure the texture wasn't as noticeable after you sprinkled crushed peppermint candy over it. Bummer that your chocolate seized on you. Once chocolate seizes, it's pretty much game over. You can't really fix it. I see DetroitTokyo uses milk chocolate, but I wouldn't trust that either. I've had plenty of milk chocolate chips seize over the years. I'm sure Vanilla Extract was the culprit. Adding butter or vegetable oil can sometimes help, but that's not a sure fix. It depends on how badly it seized. If you check out the section where they sell Wilton cake and candy supplies, LorAnn makes flavorings for candy. That's what I use when I flavor chocolate.

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chuckieb 5 years ago said:

They're awfully pretty Shona! Lovely photo and they certainly scream Christmas! A shame it didn't go all that well. I've had chocolate seize on me in the past as well and it's very frustrating.

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Cosmicmother 5 years ago said:

Thanks Diz! I should have known better and used oil instead of extract! I actually bought the extract in the Summer to add to a spray to keep the bats away from my front porch, Lol! I love tempering chocolate but I thought the choco-chips would be different than baking chocolate since DT used it in the recipe. I guess if you used the cheap chips that are waxy like candy coating it would work? The hot water helped make the seized chocolate spreadable at least. It was a hard mass of "modeling clay" before that, Lol ;)

Thanks Janet! I'll chalk it up to a learning experience, at least it was an edible learning experience! Lol ;)

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eastcoaster 5 years ago said:

Shona, that is one good looking cookie.Great photo.

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mommyluvs2cook 5 years ago said:

Wow, that's too bad you had so much trouble with the chocolate, but now you learned something new!! I didn't know that about the chocolate and alcohol mixing either. At least you got them made and the kiddos loved them :) DIZ is right, kids don't really notice little details like we do!!

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Cosmicmother 5 years ago said:

Thanks Manella, thanks Michelle! :)

The kids loved them and wolfed them down, minus one hubby and I had, within 24hrs! So it was all good in their eyes. :D

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LindaLMT 5 years ago said:

Ooooo! Very nice presentation Shona.

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