Peppermint Creams

Here’s a blast from the past for all parents out there, as well a great (and messy) activity for your children. Wrap them in a tissue paper, pop in a pretty box and you’ve even got a Christmas present for Granny!

Ingredients:
250g (9oz) icing sugar
2 ˝ teaspoons egg white (made up from pasteurised dried egg white as directed on the packet)
1 teaspoon peppermint flavouring
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Green food dye
A baking tray covered in cling film
A set of Christmas-themed cutters

Method:
1) Sift the icing sugar through a sieve into a large bowel. Use a wooden spoon to make a hollow in the middle of the sugar.
2) In a smaller bowel, mix the egg white, peppermint flavouring and lemon juice together. Then pour this mixture into the hollow in the middle of the sugar and stir the mixture.
3) When the mixture starts to come-together, start squeezing it between your fingers until it is smooth like a dough. Form the mixture into two halves.
4) Put one half of the dough back into the small bowl and add a few drops of green food dye. Use your fingers to mix in the dye. If the mixture gets sticky, sift some icing sugar over the top and mix it in.
5) Sprinkle icing sugar over a clean work surface and rolling pin. Roll the green mixture out until it is as thick as your little finger. Use the Christmas cutters to cut out lots of shapes and use a blunt knife (or palette knife) to lift them onto the covered baking tray. Repeat this process with the white mixture.
6) Leave the shapes on the tray for at least an hour until they become hard. If you wish to, you can melt 100g of dark chocolate and dip the hard shapes in so that half of the shapes are covered, then let them harden before packing into boxes.

Please note:
These sweets need to be eaten within two weeks of being made.

Kaarina Leong-Smith.