Chocolate Recycling (Mint Thins!)
“Waaaaaaait just one second,” I can hear you saying. “Chocolate Recycling? How is that even possible?! Hasn’t she ever heard there are no recipes for leftover chocolate?” Yep. I have. (Despite Googling just now and finding that to be a total untruth.) But hear me out. Part of my recycling story doesn’t involve chocolate itself, and part of my story involves the extra chocolate I melt with the express purpose of having enough leftover to “recycle” into my current favorite “I-made-it-myself” chocolate: Mint Thins
These are incredibly simple and incredibly delicious. They’re admittedly not the prettiest chocolates in the world, but I could round up at least a dozen people who would testify to the fact that the taste was good enough to make up for what these chocolates lack in the looks department.
Today’s post is brought to you today by the letter E (for Easy) and the number 2 (for the amount of ingredients needed).
Ingredient #1: Melted chocolate. You can use *anything* you have on hand. Dark chocolate. Milk chocolate. Grocery store chocolate chips. You can “go professional” and use Valhrona. Anything works.
Ingredient #2: Mint. I use NOW Peppermint Oil.
The mold is recycled from a box of chocolates I bought roughly a year ago. (It’s a plastic insert that kept some pralines from moving around and getting smooshed.)
You can use something fancier (like an actual chocolate mold) as long as you research to make sure strong mint oil won’t have any adverse effects on it.
I usually have leftover chocolate after making truffles (because I melt too much on purpose). To this chocolate, I then add drops of peppermint oil or extract (I use NOW peppermint oil) to taste. Simply spoon it in the mold and pop it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes until it sets up.
The general consensus at my house is that these mint thins are, well..pretty awesome.
(It helps that we all like mint.)
So look around, find yourself something that can be recycled and used as mold, spoon in leftover chocolate (or melt some down just for this purpose), shake in a little mint, pop it in the freezer, and….
Don’t blame me if you eat too many!