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Chocolates and Pralines

My Homemade After Eight Mints with a Melt-in-Your-Mouth Peppermint Filling

by Lisa

Trained pastry chef

Homemade After Eight mints: thin chocolate squares with a peppermint filling

5.0 (2)out of 5, 2 ratings

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Prep
40 min
Bake
3 min
Total
43 min
Makes
16 pieces

The first thing you learn in a pastry shop is that a good chocolate doesn't live on its chocolate, but on the filling underneath. That's why my After Eight recipe uses a classic powdered sugar and butter filling with real peppermint oil from the pharmacy, not some synthetic flavoring from the drugstore. It makes a huge difference in taste that you notice on your tongue right away, and it gives the squares that fresh, cool note After Eight mints are so famous for.

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The recipe originally comes from an old baking book of mine and is the basis for my homemade After Eight squares, dipped by hand with a dipping fork. Only one thing really matters: the butter has to be truly at room temperature, otherwise it won't come together with the powdered sugar and you'll end up with a crumbly lump instead of a spreadable filling. Here is my recipe for homemade After Eight mints, with a wafer-thin peppermint layer and a double coat of couverture chocolate:

Ingredients

Makes 16 pieces

  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp130 gpowdered sugarVery finely ground sugar for icings and dusting. In the US use powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar); in the UK, icing sugar.
  • 1 ½ tsp8 mlwater
  • peppermint flavoringFood grade (!), to taste
  • 1 ½ tbsp18 gunsalted butterSoftened. German butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter; European-style unsalted butter is closest. In the UK, unsalted butter.
  • 14 oz400 gcouverture chocolateMilk or dark. Chocolate with a high cocoa butter content that melts smoothly for coating and glazing. In the US use good-quality baking chocolate bars or couverture wafers (not chocolate chips); in the UK, couverture chocolate or a good-quality cooking chocolate bar.

Method

  1. Mix the powdered sugar, peppermint flavoring and water, then stir in the butter.

  2. If the mixture is too stiff, add a few more drops of water, but you're better off keeping it on the firmer side.

  3. Spread the mixture onto parchment paper. As thin as you possibly can! My pan measures 7 × 7 inches (18 × 18 cm). Then chill for at least 2 hours.

  4. While the peppermint layer chills, temper the couverture chocolate.

  5. Spread the tempered chocolate over the peppermint layer as thinly as possible and let it set. Then turn it out, peel off the paper and cut it into squares of the size you like.

  6. Coat the cut squares one by one using a dipping fork.

Questions and answers

What exactly are After Eight mints?
After Eight is a classic peppermint chocolate made of thin chocolate squares with a creamy peppermint filling. With my recipe I make exactly these squares myself: a wafer-thin layer of powdered sugar, butter and real peppermint oil, coated twice in couverture chocolate. The taste comes very close to the original.
Which peppermint oil should I use?
I only use peppermint oil from the pharmacy that is approved for oral care or for eating. Synthetic fragrance oils from the drugstore are off limits: they aren't meant for food and they don't taste authentic either. Three drops are enough to start with, then taste carefully and add more if you like.
Can I use dark couverture chocolate instead?
Absolutely, it's even more typical for After Eight (dark couverture chocolate is dark chocolate with extra cocoa butter for coating and glazing; in the US use bittersweet or semisweet baking chocolate bars, not chocolate chips; in the UK, dark couverture chocolate or a good dark cooking chocolate bar). Today I'm using milk chocolate couverture because I love it, but dark is more usual for the original and gives that slight bitterness that goes so well with peppermint. The only important thing is to use real couverture chocolate, not an ordinary chocolate bar, because that won't give you such a smooth coating.
Why did my filling turn out crumbly?
It's almost always the butter. If it's too cold or still firm, it won't combine with the powdered sugar and stays crumbly. The butter really has to be at room temperature, soft but not melted. Even so, my mixture sometimes looks crumbly at first. Then I add one or two more drops of water and it becomes spreadable.
How long do homemade After Eight mints keep?
In an airtight container in the fridge, my After Eight squares keep for about two weeks. At room temperature they soften quickly, because the peppermint filling contains a lot of butter. Take them out of the fridge about ten minutes before serving, that's when the flavor comes through best.
Do they make a good gift?
That's exactly what they're perfect for. I put them into little paper candy cups and then into a pretty box with parchment paper between the layers so nothing sticks together. Packed like this, they travel well for two to three days as long as you keep them cool. A homemade gift made by hand always goes down well.