Festive Homemade Peppermint Patties have a delicious, cool and creamy peppermint center, a rich dark chocolate coating and are finished with colorful holiday sprinkles. These minty mini treats are a super easy, no-bake treat that are perfect for parties, gift giving or simple holiday snacks!

peppermint patties cut in half and stacked

Copycat York Peppermint Patty Recipe

We all know those distinctive flavors of a York Peppermint Patty, with their cool peppermint center and the dark chocolate coating. But what if I told you that you could make a copycat homemade version that taste even better? It’s true! These minty treats are super easy to whip up with just a few basic ingredients. They’re great as an after dinner snack any time of the year, but the peppermint flavor makes them perfect for the holiday season.

This homemade candy will make the perfect addition to your Christmas cookie trays this year, along with these sweet Ooey Gooey Christmas Cookies, these easy No Bake Chocolate Haystack Cookies or this ever so popular Homemade Peanut Brittle. But trust me, you’ll want to make a double batch, because these peppermint patties will be the first thing to disappear!

Why We Love This Recipe

Simple recipe for homemade candy: This easy homemade peppermint patties recipe only takes 5 simple ingredients, plus sprinkles for decoration. No boiling or candy thermometer needed.
Great for gift giving: This holiday season, these peppermint patties will make perfect gifts for teachers, neighbors and friends.
Better than the original: These copycat York peppermint patties will remind you of the store-bought version, but they are SO much better.

Recommended Tools

Electric mixer or stand mixer
Candy dipper or fork
Large mixing bowl
Medium mixing bowl
Wax paper
Baking sheet

What’s Needed for This Copycat York Peppermint Patties

Ingredients for peppermint patties includes powdered or icing sugar, sweetened condensed milk, peppermint extract, dark chocolate wafers, vegetable shortening and assorted Christmas sprinkles

Confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar
Sweetened condensed milk
Peppermint extract
Dark chocolate candy melts or dark chocolate chips
Vegetable shortening (or coconut oil)
Christmas sprinkles (optional)

How to Make the Best Peppermint Patties

Step One: Make the Peppermint Dough

Process of preparing Peppermint patties is mixing the condensed milk and peppermint extract

In a large bowl, beat the sweetened condensed milk and the peppermint extract on low speed, using a hand mixer, until thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes.
While beating, slowly add the powdered sugar, cup by cup until thoroughly mixed. The final result will be a dough, similar consistency as cookie dough.

Step Two: Form the Patties

Using your hands, roll a small amount of the sugar mixture into a ball and place on a lined sheet tray.
Using your fingers, push the ball down so that it becomes a flattened small circle about a half inch thick. Place the dough disks about a 1/2 inch apart on the cookie sheet.

Step Three: Allow Disk to Dry Completely

Allow the disks to dry for approximately 3 hours. Flip the disks over and let dry an additional hour. They should be dry enough for you to handle them and they will not bend. For best results, I like to stick mine in the fridge for about an hour or so to ensure they hold together well in the melted chocolate.

Step Four: Coat with Chocolate

peppermint patties coated with chocolate

In a medium-sized, microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate wafers and the vegetable shortening in the microwave using 20 sec increments at half power. This should only take a few minutes. (You can also melt them using a double boiler)
Using a candy dipper or a fork, dip each peppermint disk in the melted chocolate completely covering it. Tap off the excess chocolate and place patties on a clean sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet.

Step Five: Add the Sprinkles

peppermint patties topped with sprinkles

Immediately add the sprinkles over the top of each dipped peppermint patty.
Allow the chocolate coating to dry and set for about 30 minutes before eating.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks.

Peppermint Patty Variations:

Have fun and change up the color of the creamy peppermint filling based on the holiday. You can do red for Christmas or 4^th of July. Pink for Easter, green for St Patrick’s Day…the possibilities are endless.

Another easy way to customize these easy Christmas peppermint patties is by leaving off the sprinkles. Instead, use a little white chocolate to drizzle over the tops. You could even use milk chocolate to drizzle on top because it is lighter in color than the dark candy melts.

Peppermint extract gives them the signature flavor you get from the original version. But if you aren’t a big fan of York Peppermint Patties, you could use vanilla extract, almond extract or even orange extract to give them a totally different flavor.

Change up the traditional colored sprinkles and add finely crushed peppermint candy canes or gold and silver sprinkles.

Tips for this Homemade Peppermint Patty Recipe

You will definitely want to use wax paper and not a piece of parchment paper. The peppermint disks will stick to parchment paper, and you’ll end up with mess.

Add just a teaspoon of peppermint extract at a time and taste as you go. You can adjust it to taste a little less strong or even stronger if you prefer.

You’re going to want to add the powdered sugar a little at time so ensure that it gets blended in nice and smooth without any little clumps. You may even want to sift or whisk the sugar before using it.

Don’t rush the drying time. If the disks are not dried out properly, they will fall apart when you begin to coat them with the chocolate. If they aren’t drying out at room temperature, place them in the fridge for a bit.

Check to make sure they are dry before dipping them. If the peppermint disks are stuck to the wax paper, they are not dry enough and require additional drying time.

When you’re ready to cover them in chocolate, make sure the chocolate isn’t too hot. You want it smoothly melted but if it’s too hot it may cause the creamy disks to fall apart.

More Christmas Cookie Recipes

What Can I Do If the Dough Is Too Soft?

The peppermint patty filling should feel tacky when you’re rolling it. But if you can tell it is just too soft to hold a disk shape, you can just place it back in the bowl and add a little more powdered sugar. Just add a little bit at a time and test it before adding more.

Why Did My Chocolate Seize Up When Melting?

Moisture is the number one enemy when it comes to melting chocolate. The best way to prevent chocolate from seizing up is to always start out with a clean and super dry bowl. You want to take your time when melting it. A higher temp does not mean your chocolate will melt faster. In fact, it will most likely seize up and burn. Always heat it in 50% power in increments, stirring between each one.

More Christmas Dessert Recipes

Peppermint Patties

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Resting Time 4

Total Time 4 30

Cool mint patties covered in chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. These are a perfect holiday cookie and one that you can eat year-round!

Equipment

electric mixer or stand mixer
candy dipper or fork
large mixing bowl
medium mixing bowl
Wax paper
cookie sheet

Ingredients

▢ 6 cups confectioner's sugar
▢ 1 3/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
▢ 1 Tablespoon peppermint extract
▢ 3 cups dark chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips
▢ 2 Tablespoons vegetable shortening
▢ Christmas sprinkles

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, using the electric beaters, beat the sweetened condensed milk and the peppermint extract until thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes.
While beating, slowly add the confectioner's sugar, cup by cup until thoroughly mixed. The final result will be a dough, similar consistency as cookie dough.
Using your hands, roll a small amount of dough into a ball and place on the cookie sheet.
Using your fingers, push the ball down so that it becomes a flattened disk about a half inch thick. Leave a 1/2 inch of space between the disks.
Allow the disks to dry for approximately 3 hours. Flip the disks over and let dry an additional hour. They should be dry enough for you to handle them and they will not bend.
In a medium-sized bowl, melt the chocolate candy melts and the vegetable shortening in the microwave using 20-second increments at half power. This should only take a few minutes.
Using a candy dipper or a fork, dip each peppermint disk in the chocolate completely covering it. Place on a clean sheet of wax paper.
Immediately pinch the sprinkles over the top of the peppermint patties.
Allow to set for about 30 minutes before eating. Enjoy!

Notes

• Wax paper should be used. The peppermint disks will stick to parchment paper.
• If the disks are not dried out properly, they will fall apart when you
• If the peppermint disks are on the smaller size, it’ll take less time to dry out. If they are larger, more drying time will be required.
• If the peppermint disks are stuck to the wax paper, they are not dry enough and require additional drying time. Do not force them or they will crack.

Nutrition

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