CANDIED MINT LEAVES

Organising jail breaks to the North and eating cake for dinner and coating fifteen million mint leaves in icing sugar using a pastry brush. Sometimes life is totally worth living (at least for a while).

CANDIED MINT LEAVES

Adapted from Chickpea Magazine – Winter 2015

1 cup fresh mint leaves

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

150ml (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) water

30g (1/2 cup) icing sugar

In a mixing bowl, stir together ground flaxseed and water and leave aside to set for about 10 minutes. Gently brush one of the mint leaves with the flaxseed mixture using a pastry brush, making sure the leaf is covered in quite a thin layer of mixture. Sprinkle icing sugar over the leaf with a small spoon or sieve, then gently flick any excess sugar off. Place the leaf on a rack to dry and repeat the process for all remaining mint leaves. Allow them to dry until stiff and crisp.

Use to decorate cakes or anything you find on your way for the prettiest thing ever.

Notes plus a peppermint chocolate ganache recipe!

For a very pretty cake!

I don’t need to tell you how good the chocolate+peppermint flavour combination is, do I.

Then listen to this. Get yourself a chocolate cake. You can use this recipe for a crazy good one. Or if you feel very hippy and superfoody, do like me and make a spelt and hemp flour cake with chocolate chips. I KNOW RIGHT. I got hold of a cake mix from this Italian brand called DnaBio and it takes half a minute to make and it’s yummy.

Well once you have your more or less hippy chocolate cake, make your:

PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Place 150ml (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) canned coconut milk on medium heat until it starts simmering, then remove from the heat, add 100g (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) chopped peppermint dark chocolate plus the same amount of chopped plain dark chocolate and stir until melted and well combined. Or swap the peppermint chocolate with more plain dark chocolate plus ½ teaspoon peppermint extract.

Once the ganache is cool but not yet setting, carry on on your way to deliciousness. Pour the ganache over your chocolate cake whilst it’s still in the tin. Distribute it in an even layer and leave aside to set.

Place pretty pretty candied mint leaves all over the chocolate ganache layer and stare at it in amazement for how pretty it issssss.