Chocolate Peppermints

This is a one-line variation, so everything depends on the peppermint cream formula it points back to — a cooked sugar fondant flavored with oil of peppermint and dropped or cut into small patties. The chocolate is the only new variable.

• The hinge: when the chocolate goes inWhen the chocolate goes in -- Most fondant practice adds the melted chocolate once the syrup has been cooked and cooled to the point where it is being creamed, rather than to the boiling syrup, since added fat can interfere with crystallization and give a greasier, coarser cream.
• One and a half ounces of unsweetened chocolateThat is one and a half squares of the standard one-ounce baking chocolate bar, roughly 42 g. Melt it over hot water rather than direct heat, since unsweetened chocolate scorches easily.
• Oil of peppermint, not extractPeriod confectionery recipes call for the essential oil, which is several times stronger than the alcohol-based extract on a modern shelf. If your base recipe says a few drops of oil and you are using extract, expect to need noticeably more, and add it by taste at the creaming stage.
• Fondant temperatureWhatever the base recipe says about "soft ball," that is 112-116C (234-240F) on a thermometer. Cook past it and the patties will be hard and chalky; stop short and they will not set.
• Marble or a sheet panFondant recipes of the period generally work the syrup on a marble slab for cooling. A chilled rimmed baking sheet works; a warm bowl does not, because the syrup must cool evenly and quickly before it is stirred.
• Yield and keepingYield depends entirely on the base formula and how small the patties are cut. Let them dry uncovered for several hours until the surface firms, then store in a tin between layers of waxed paper; they stale by drying out rather than spoiling.