You may need to be of a certain age to remember the old school (literally) mint slices!
Delicious chocolate biscuit base with a mint icing layer and chocolate topping!
These are moulded in silicone moulds for uniform bites but you can make in a square tin and cut later.

Also, these are made with black cocoa for the black look and slightly darker Oreo like taste on the bottom but you can substitute for “regular” cocoa should you prefer.

Additional Equipment Required

I use 3.5 cm square silicone moulds for these Mint Slice Bites.
Specifically these but any will do. Recipe makes about 20 bites.

Recipe

Short Bread (You can use any basic vegan store bought biscuit but I like to make my own)

• 150g plain flour.
• 100g plant butter.
• 50g caster sugar.
• 20 drops foodie vanilla essence or 1 tsp of non concentrate vanilla.

Base

• 225g of the shortbread you have just baked.
• 3 tbsp golden syrup.
• 75g plant butter.
• 3 tbsp Black cocoa powder.
• 100g Dark chocolate.

Filling

• 350g Icing sugar.
• 2-3 tbsp Hot water (a LITTLE more if too thick but it should be very thick or it will not set).
• 20 – 30 drops of foodie peppermint to taste.
• Green food colouring (optional).

Topping

• 300g Dark chocolate / Dark mint chocolate.
• Be sure to check the ingredients as not all dark chocolate is vegan..

Method

Shortbread

• Mix the flour and sugar thoroughly in a bowl.
• Add the butter, vanilla and mix until fully combined.
• Clump into a ball, press down into a rough rectangle for ease of rolling later and wrap in cling film.
• Refrigerate until quite firm.
• Heat oven 190C/170C fan.
• On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ cm.
• Cut the dough into pieces. Don’t be too precious about the shapes as they will be chopped up later!
• Place on a tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until they just start turning golden.
• Leave to cool.

Base

• Roughly chop the shortbread you have made into small pieces.
• Add the chocolate, plant butter and syrup to a pan over a medium heat.
• Stir to combine as the chocolate and butter melts.
• Once all the chocolate has almost melted, add the cocoa and continue to stir.
• Once you have a smooth liquid, add the shortbread and combine.

Mint Layer

• Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl.
• Make a well and add 2 tbsp of hot water in the well.
• Add the peppermint flavour and food colouring.
• Stir the well, slowly combining in the sugar, from the inside of the well out.
• Add a few drops more warm water if it’s becoming so thick that you can’t combine the rest of the sugar.
• You want to get it to a fondant icing like consistency. You will need to finish combining by hand as if you are making dough.
• You should be able to pinch pieces off and roll into a ball that will retain its shape.

Topping

• Not much to say here! Melt the chocolate how you like.
• Can microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring each time.
• Melt in a pot over a medium heat, slowly stirring.
• Boil water in a pot and add the chocolate to a bowl, place the bowl over the water and stir the chocolate until melted.

Construction

• Add a heaped teaspoon of base mixture to each mould cavity and press down.
• Leave in the fridge until partially, but not totally set.
• Once partially set but still tacky, remove from the fridge and add the mint layer.
• You want the mint to be able to bond with the base so it wont just separate.
• Pinch a lump of mint icing off, roll into a ball just over 1 cm in size roughly and press into the mould, making sure to spread over the whole base.
• Once all are filled, spoon a teaspoon of the melted chocolate into each cavity.
• Once all are filled, gently tilt the mould around so all bites are fully covered.
• Refrigerate until set.