We Should Cocoa: Lemon Creams

This months We Should Cocoa is hosted by Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary who has challenged us to make chocolates and truffles. Last month's ice cream challenge round up can be found on Choclette's blog here. You can learn more about We Should Cocoa on Choclette and Chele's blogs.

Peppermint creams get a bad rep for being banished to appearing with your bill at restaurants or in huge quantities at Christmas. Plus, it's near on impossible to buy Poppets now.

I've always had a soft spot for their minty goodness. Maybe it's because I grew up in a town housed a sweet factory and the air by the river was often perfumed with Eau de Trebor Mints.

However, it's summer and I just gorged on a packet of Clarnico Mint Creams that I found in the kitchen cupboard so it is time the sweet little fondants got a sunshiny makeover. And also a new chocolate coating.

Ingredients
1 medium egg white
350gr icing sugar (plus extra)
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Lemon extract (to taste)

75gr melted dark chocolate for dipping

Method
1, Whisk the egg whites to medium stiff peaks.
2, Slowly add in the icing sugar in batches with the lemon zest, juice and a couple of drops of extract. You can save a pinch of lemon zest for decorating the finished fondants.
3, You're aiming for a stiff fondant that could be rolled out. You might have to add more icing sugar but this depends on the size of your egg. Add more lemon extract to taste.
4, When you have a ball of stiff fondant, roll it out to a thickness of around 1cm and cut out shapes of your choice. Cover loosely with cling film and leave to dry for at least 12 hours or overnight.
5, Dip the dried fondants in chocolate. Either half or go hard and dip the whole thing. You might need more chocolate. Or sacrifice some of the plain ones to "taste testing"...