Mint Frangos

Mint Frangos are a yummy, creamy chocolate candy that has its roots in a Frederick & Nelson's department store in downtown Seattle in 1927. The current incarnation of the original Frango is sold at Macy's Department Stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Macy's across the rest of the country sell a Frango made from a different recipe. This recipe is a good imitation, though not an exact duplicate, of the original Northwest Frango.

Unfortunately, I made a batch of these before I decided to blog about it, so the photos are limited. As much I would love to make another batch for the sake of properly documenting the process with photos, Frangos are very rich and creamy, and hard to resist... and if I had more of them in my refrigerator, I wouldn't have a reason to resist them.

I honestly have no idea where this recipe came from. My mom has been making it for at least 30 years and for all I know, it could be a family secret... and I'm sharing it with the 6 people who read my blog.

The TOOLS:

2 qt saucepan (It is best to use a pan that does not have Teflon or any special coatings, because you will be using a hand mixer in the pan and you wouldn't want to ruin that pretty coating.)
spoon/rubber spatula
electric hand mixer
8x8 or 9x11 pan, greased and lined with waxed paper (size depends on how thick you like them... I actually don't have either size on hand, so I use 9x9 and I like 'em thick)

The CAST:

1 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1-1/4 pound powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons peppermint extract

As you can see in the photo, my dry ingredients are in rectangular containers. I put most of my staples in containers like this for two reasons... 1) it makes organizing my pantry MUCH easier (yes I'm just that organized) and 2) it keeps out bugs. With that, I'm hoping you can read the labels on the containers and trust me that they contain what I say they do.

Melt the butter in a 2 qt saucepan over medium heat.

Add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate and 1 cup milk chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted.

Once chocolate is melted, add powdered sugar and combine. You can begin stirring by hand, but it will become very stiff and require a hand mixer to get mixed completely.

Beat in 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons peppermint until creamy. Pour into prepared pan and refrigerate. Be sure to lick the spoon/spatula.

Once set, you should be able to slip them right out of the pan with the waxed paper and cut them up. Store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to one week. They do require refrigeration because of the eggs.

If you're the adventurous type and have a favorite flavor other than peppermint, try replacing it. Peppermint tends to be a strong flavor so you may need more of your chosen flavor.