This recipe came from the Holiday Chocolate Workshop I went to at Sur la Table. The filling is creamy with a mild peppermint flavor and a bit of crunch from crushed candy canes. These are perfect anytime, but you can make them extra festive for Christmas by topping with holiday sugar decorations.
For the chocolate: Buy some good quality chocolate. I used Guittard Semisweet and Bittersweet Wafers
. The chocolate is excellent and I love that they come in wafers that melt easily and I don't have to chop up a big block. The recipe said to bring the temperature to 115-degrees F. The chef at the class said to ignore the temperature and just get the chocolate melted which worked out fine, so I left it out of the recipe.
Prepare: Crush up some candy. I put it in an ziploc and go at it with a hammer. I imagine a meat tenderizer would work, but I don't have one.
Note: Water is chocolate's enemy. Don't let the water in your double boiler start to steam!
Ingredients:
40 1 1/4 inch diameter foil petit four cups
16 ounces good-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped up
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces good-quality white chocolate chopped up
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 Tablespoon sour cream
1/4 cup coarsely crushed red-and-white striped hard peppermint candies (like candy canes)
Decorations for the top: candied violets, sugar decorations, or more crushed candy canes
Directions:
Arrange the foil cups on a baking sheet.
Stir bittersweet or semisweet chocolate in a glass bowl (like pyrex) set over a saucepan of simmering water. (Bowl should not touch the water and water should not boil). Stir until all the chocolate is melted and smooth. Some people like to do this in the microwave. Knock yourself out, but be careful that you don't burn the chocolate.
Use 1-inch wide pastry brush, thickly coat the bottom and insides of the foil cups up to the top edge. Two people make it go much faster! Hold the cup in your hand as you brush the chocolate. I couldn't do that and take a picture at the same time. Place in the refrigerator until firm (if it's cold in your kitchen, you can leave them out). Reserve the remaining chocolate for later.
Heat the cream to simmer, but don't boil, in a small, heavy saucepan. Turn heat to low then add the white chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in extract, then sour cream. Cool until barley lukewarm, about 10 minutes. Mix in the 1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies.
Spoon enough white chocolate mixture into each chocolate lined cup to fill almost to the top. You need a little room for the chocolate topping. This is about 1 teaspoon. Refrigerate until the filling sets, about 30 minutes.
Rewarm the melted chocolate if needed. Spoon about 1 teaspoon chocolate over the filling in each cup. I found that it works best to spoon on the chocolate than tilt the cup to let the chocolate oozed to the edges.
Top with decoration before moving onto the next candy. If the filling is really cold the chocolate starts to set up quickly. If you wait for the decorations until you're done covering all the candies you'll find that some have already set up and your decoration won't stick. Chill cups until firm, about 1 hour.
I didn't put either enough filling or enough chocolate on the tops of some. Learn from my mistake. My second batch came out more evenly filled.
Can be made 2 weeks ahead. To store: refrigerate in a single layer in an airtight container. Let sit at room temperature about 1 hour before serving.
I have a binder I use to I keep all my recipes that I've gathered from varied sources, but it's a mess. For ages I've been planning to clean it out, organize it, and actually make it usable. Now I've found Taste Book and I'm motivated to get started. 
at Amazon.com (There are different colors!)
that comes with
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