Very Merry Minty Shortbread Squares

Are After Eight mints a staple in your household at this time of the year? They are in mine; they are quite synonymous really with Christmas, for us. And I think for a lot of people. Disneyboi absolutely loves them especially, so when the nice people at After Eight’s asked if I’d like to come up with a couple of recipes with the delicious wafer-thin after dinner delights, I couldn’t say no.

They kindly sent me a box of After Eight goodies, which included the mints themselves, so I could get cracking on my creations. Find out what else was in the box below soon...

I will feature a couple of recipes this week featuring the mints. This one is more of a cookie/biscuit type affair, whereas the next will be a delicious dessert.

But for now, hands up who loves shortbread? Who loves caramel shortbread? And, if you love After Eights too, then this really is one for you.

It’s so easy, if you can knock up a batch of shortie, then you can do this. Simply make the shortbread in a tin, and when it’s fresh out of the oven, place the After Eights in a single layer all over the top. With the oven turned off, pop the tin back in the oven for one minute, to give them a wee hand to melt and when they emerge, spread the mints gently with a knife or off-set spatula.

If you wish, decorate the top with some sprinkles, a drizzle of chocolate, for example. Allow them to set and then chop them up into squares.

This is like a minty version of caramel shortbread and is very very addictive. Here’s the recipe…

Yield: Approx 24 squares

Ingredients:

125 grams, unsalted butter, softened

55 grams caster sugar

180 grams plain flour

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

25 After Eights mints approx.

Method:

Line an 8”x8” square baking tin with greaseproof paper and pre-heat the oven to 190C.

Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and smooth in texture. Do this by hand or with an electric mixture if you have one.

Add the pinch of salt and the flour and mix this until a dough forms. Press the dough into the prepared tin and with your fingers press down into an even layer making sure the dough touches all of the edges.

Pop this into the oven for 16 to 18 minutes, or until it starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and turn the oven off. Quickly start to add After Eight mints to the top of the shortbread in a single layer. Don’t worry if there are some gaps between the mints. They will begin to melt with the heat of the shortbread, but place the tin into the oven for one minute, so the residual heat melts them fully. Remove from the oven and spread the mints to an even layer. No mint fondant should be peeping through, so do this quite gently.

Add decoration to the top if you wish and allow the chocolate to set. Don’t do this in the fridge as this could make the shortbread too moist.

When set, remove from the tin and slice into 24 squares. We took these to our friends who we were visiting for the weekend and they were devoured in no time at all after the delicious meal they cooked for us. And so will you if you make them. Enjoy…!

Disclosure Statement: I received the After Eight items for free and also received a gift voucher to purchase ingredients for baking with. Any opinions expressed are my own.