Perfectly textured melt-in-the-mouth vegan peppermint patties! These creamy, dreamy peppermint desserts are super easy and fun to make and so delicious!
Ah vegan peppermint patties. Such a simple recipe really. Such a lovely concept.
Yet….it took me an age to figure out!
The trouble was I started off quite determined to make it work with coconut butter. And that turned out to be my downfall because I just could not.
Now, I do love coconut butter, I really do. But the trouble was that coconut butter plus powdered sugar plus peppermint extract created a center that was just too hard. It was perfect in terms of color, but the texture wasn’t right.
So then I tried it again but added in some golden syrup, now the texture was perfect, but the color wasn’t right! The golden color from the syrup made the centers too dark in color.
So then I tried it using light corn syrup, but I wasn’t happy with the result. It was still a little too firm for my liking and I didn’t like the taste as much, the color was good, but it just wasn’t quite right for me.
So then I was like: well why not make it with vegan condensed milk then? I mean, all the non-vegan versions make it with condensed milk. Why get stuck on the coconut butter as an ingredient? And that was when it all came together!
I made a batch of vegan condensed milk and mixed condensed milk with powdered sugar and peppermint extract and that created the most perfectly textured vegan peppermint patties in existence I am sure of it!
Using the condensed milk, it was just so easy, even creating the shapes for the patties was so easy, the dough was so pliable and easy to handle, it was just a pleasure.
So the extra few minutes taken to make the vegan condensed milk is well worth it in my view. It really doesn’t take much longer to make our vegan condensed milk than it does to melt the coconut butter if you were using that. So it’s really much of a muchness.
How To Make Peppermint Patties
- So if you are using homemade vegan condensed milk then you will start off by making a batch of that. We have a recipe for vegan condensed milk that is made in the blender and takes literally minutes to make. Alternatively you can use a store-bought option.
- Add powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and then add in your vegan condensed milk and peppermint extract and mix very well into a thick ball of dough. It can sometimes seem as if it won’t come together and maybe you even need to get in there with your hands to get all the powdered sugar mixed in with the condensed milk but it will come together and you need it to be super thick.
- Now break off even amounts of the dough and form them into balls and place evenly on a parchment lined baking tray. Use your hands or the base of a glass with a square of parchment paper (so that it doesn’t stick) to flatten them slightly. Now place them into the freezer for about an hour to get really firm.
- Break up some vegan chocolate and add to a microwave safe bowl along with a little coconut oil and microwave in 30-second intervals bringing it out to stir every 30-seconds until your chocolate is melted.
- Dip your peppermint patties into the melted chocolate and then place them back onto the parchment lined baking tray. Top with a little decoration like chocolate sprinkles and then refrigerate to set.
Recipe Tips
Vegan Condensed Milk: You can make your own homemade version in the blender like we did using soy milk powder or rice milk powder, or you can use a store-bought option. We tested this with condensed coconut milk as well and it worked great! Other alternatives would be melted coconut butter (as discussed above) but I found the texture to set too firmly so it’s not as ideal as vegan condensed milk for texture.
Vegan Chocolate or Chocolate Chips: I prefer to melt down a high quality good tasting vegan chocolate here rather than using chocolate chips, but either/or will work.
Storing and Freezing
Having these vegan peppermint patties in the fridge to snack on is such a treat!
Keep them stored in the fridge and enjoy them as and when you like. They last for weeks in the fridge, or you can store them in the freezer for months.
More Easy Vegan Desserts!
- Vegan Snickers Bars
- Vegan Twix
- Vegan Rice Krispie Treats
- Vegan Peanut Butter Bars
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
- Vegan Bounty Bars
Vegan Peppermint Patties
Ingredients
- ½ cup Vegan Condensed Milk (120ml)
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar (360g)
- 2 tsp Peppermint Extract
- 12 ounces Vegan Chocolate (340g) or Chocolate Chips
- 1 tsp Coconut Oil
Instructions
- Add the powdered sugar to a mixing bowl along with the vegan condensed milk and peppermint extract and mix in until you have a big ball of dough. If it seems like it won't come together, get in there with your hands and form it into a ball of dough. It will be quite firm and not sticky.
- Break off even pieces of the dough and roll it into balls and place the balls onto a parchment lined baking tray. Then flatten the balls with your hands into flattish rounds. Alternatively you can flatten them with the base of a glass. Place into the freezer for an hour to firm up.
- Break the chocolate into pieces and add to a microwave safe bowl along with the coconut oil. Microwave in 30-second intervals bringing it out to stir every 30-seconds until the chocolate is melted.
- Dip the peppermint patties into the chocolate, using two teaspoons to lift them out and place them back onto the parchment lined baking tray.
- Sprinkle some chocolate jimmies on top if you like (optional) and place into the fridge to set.
- Keep them stored in the fridge and serve directly from the fridge or the chocolate will melt.
Notes
- Condensed Milk. We have a full recipe and instructions for making your own vegan condensed milk in minutes in your blender but you can of course use a ready-made store-bought version of your choice. We tested this recipe with condensed coconut milk and it also worked great!
- Chocolate. I prefer to melt down a high quality vegan chocolate rather than using chocolate chips for this recipe but either will work. This recipe uses 2 cups of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.
- Storing. Keep your peppermint patties stored in the fridge where they will stay good for weeks. You can also store them in the freezer where they will last for months.
- This recipe was first published in March 2018 and now updated with clearer text and instructions.
I use the unsweetened coconut condensed milk and 3 cups of powdered sugar and it’s still very runny so I just continue to add powdered sugar I think I’m up to 5 cups now to make it look like a dough ball??
It sounds like what you are using is coconut evaporated milk. That certainly won’t work here. It needs to be sweetened condensed milk.
Made this today – so delicious!!! I used condensed coconut milk and used vegetable oil instead of coconut oil with the chocolate and it came out perfect. The only thing I found different was that I had a fair bit of leftover melted chocolate after I had coated all of my patties (had about 30) so would probably reduce the amount of chocolate to 250g or so in the future. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Amanda!
What can you substitute for coconut oil?
Hi Mary, the coconut oil that melts in with the chocolate is just to make the chocolate a little thinner/easier to work with when you’re dipping in the peppermint patties. It can be omitted though! The coconut oil in the homemade vegan condensed milk (if you’re making it up from scratch) can also be omitted.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! These easy-to-prepare treats are fantastic. My omnivore friends are astounded by these. My co-vegans are ecstatic.
I have to admit to being skeptical the first time I made the recipe. I tried the condensed milk after I made it, and thought it was dreadful. I was worried that the finished candy would have that flavour of “I’m trying to be a food that people can eat as a substitute for foods they used to eat. Too bad I’m not a very good mimic, but hey, I’m better than nothing!” But I pressed on because the photos looked gorgeous. Then I added the powdered sugar and tasted again—after all, so many things are improved with powdered sugar! But again, I thought, “this tastes awful! These are not going to work.” I even prepared my significant other for disappointment. (He’s an omnivore but won’t eat York peppermint patties because of the unpleasant PGPR additive.) Anyway, with that warning to both of our expectations, I pressed on. Once I got enough peppermint oil in the dough, I was suddenly wowed. Then I finished the recipe and was stunned at how marvelous those little treats are. Eeeeeee! Thank you!!
I’d like to offer the following slight differences I saw or made, in the event my comments might be helpful to someone.
1. Condensed milk: I had a slightly different experience making the condensed milk both times I’ve made this recipe: mine came out the consistency of very thick paste. I used Now Organic Soymilk Powder. I left the condensed milk at that consistency, and the recipe still turned out perfectly. (I didn’t have to change the amount of powdered sugar.)
2. Mixing Equipment: The second (of 2) times I made the recipe, I mixed the dough in my food-processor with the dough blade, instead of in the blender.
3. Chocolate: I used Enjoy Life semisweet chocolate chunks, and my patties didn’t need to be refrigerated after the first chilling right after I finished making them. I don’t know if that’s a result of the brand of chocolate, or the denseness of the soymilk dough, but I liked the serendipitous result.
4. Dipping equipment: For dipping the patties in chocolate, I used 2 long, narrow fondue forks. I stabbed the patty with one and then swirled the patty in the chocolate. I then pulled the patty out and gently twirled the patty to help some of the chocolate drip off. I used the second fork to help transfer the patty to my silicone baking mat, and then used one of the forks to move a bit of the chocolate from one part of the patty to the center to cover up the stab holes. It actually made a delicate little swirl on top!
I’m so grateful to you for making it possible for my significant other and I to enjoy peppermint patties again.
I have had to cut out a bunch of food because my breastfed baby has allergies. I made these and gave one to my husband to taste and he wouldn’t give it back and has eaten more than me haha
Hahaha excellent! ? Thanks for sharing Jess! 🙂
We are gonna try using condensed coconut milk
Any vegan condensed milk should work great! All the best! 🙂
These look wonderful! I can’t wait to try them!
I’ve actually never had a peppermint patty, is it a little like a chocolate coated mint cream? … regardless, I want them! 😀
P.S. I discovered your site two days ago, when searching the web for a vegan royal icing recipe, that doesn’t need egg substitute.. anyway, I think I’ll be spending a lot of time here from now on! 😀
Awesome Jen! Yes, they are like a mint cream! Totally delicious! I think you will love them. 🙂
OMG! So good!
They look scrumptious and taste even better!!