yes, I explained it quite thoroughly, and like maifleur said, I don't know how describe it better though I'll try: Candymint is a type, or "cultivar" of peppermint, just like "Gala" and "Granny Smith" are both kinds of apples, for example. They're both apples, but they are different types that have their own characteristics. And to propose yet another example/analogy, there are different breeds of animals, like dogs. I have a Samoyed dog. Samoyeds are always blank-white, super fluffy and adorable, and can handle almost any amount of cold this planet can throw at them. While another dog, lets say a german shepherd, is brown, with a 1-inch coat, and makes a good guard dog, and would surely die in temperatures where a samoyed would be thinking "it's still too warm for my taste." They're very different, but they're both dogs. They could reproduce and make fertile offspring (i.e. offspring that can themselves reproduce with other dogs) almost 100% of the time. The only thing that is kind of hard to understand is that peppermint is a hybrid. Usually different breeds or types or cultivars or varieties or whatever-you-want-to-call-it of an organism are relegated to a single, simple species. For example, apples are always simply Malus domestica, and dogs Canis domestica (it's actually more complicated than that for those two examples, but let's leave it at that for simplicity's sake). But peppermint is a hybrid, that is a cross between two other species of mint. It is a hybrid that occurs naturally. In other words, in places where both the parent species exist in close proximity (in this case Mentha and Mentha spicata), sometimes a bee, while doing his busy work, will carry the pollen of a plant of one species to the flowers of a plant of the other species, and the flowers will be fertilized, and produce seed that is the hybrid that we call peppermint. So peppermints pop up naturally People eventually noticed this specific hybrid, and the ones living on that large, dreary island in the North Atlantic* started calling it "peppermint." They called all of the plants that were this hybrid "peppermint", regardless of each individuals specimens slight differences, since they were all indeed the same hybrid (which a person can easily tell since none of them are THAT different). At some later time, a person, I suspect on that very same island, was taking a break from constantly drinking tea and playing soccer and oppressing the Irish**, found a specimen of peppermint in the wild (or perhaps a cross inadvertently happened in his garden) that was just a bit different but that he particularly liked, because it smelled like candy or something (I don't know what it smells like, you're the one with it***), and decided to call it "candymint" and then propagate it (make more plants - in this case by just letting the mint spread and cutting clumps of it when needed) and give it to his neighbors and other farmers, or maybe the lord of the manor, and to this day people have been growing it, including you now. just in case you didn't get some parts: *I'm talking about England **again, a person from England, and the way I described him is just a joke ***by "it" I mean candymint - I don't know what it smells like/what about the smell is different from most peppermints - but you do since you're growing it got it? I'm trying to explain it so you really UNDERSTAND it conceptually, that is, what we mean by a "cultivar" or "type" If you still can't understand, just remember that "candymint is a type of peppermint"

My MIL found the recipe that I had left at her house last year. Here it is for anyone that would like to try it: INGREDIENTS; Cookie Base: 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips TOPPING; 1 1/2 cups ( 9ounces) semisweet chocolate chips 3/4 cup (about 5 ounces) crushed peppermint candy ( crush with a rolling pin into smal pieces) DIRECTIONS: Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Have ready two baking sheets. Prepare the cookie base. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. Sift the cocoa powder onto the flour mixture and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, mix the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, water and vanilla until smooth, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Leaving a 3-inch border empty on all sides, use a thin metal spatula to spread half of the dough on one baking sheet into a rough rectangle that measures about 11 by 8 inches and is about 1'4 inch thick. Use the palms of your hands to help pat it into an even layer. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough on the second baking sheet. Bake one baking sheet at a time until the top looks dull, not shiny, and feels evenly firm at the edges and center, about 14 minutes. As soon as each baking sheet comes out of the oven, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips over the cookie slab. Let the chocolate chips sit for 5 minutes to soften and melt, then use a small metal spatula to spread the melted chocolate over the cookie, covering most of the cookie. While the chocolate is still warm. sprinkle half the peppermint candy evenly over the slab. Let the cookie bark cool on the baking sheets on a wire rack until the chocolate topping is firm, about 2 hours. Or, to speed the cooling, cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 30 minutes, then refrigerate them, still on the baking sheets, just until the chocolate topping firms, then remove from the refrigerator. The cookie bark will become crisp as it cools. Break each cookie slab into about twelve 5 to 6 inch long irregular pieces. The cookies can be stored layered between sheets of wax paper in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nancy, I have the same texture issue, peppermint candy always seems to get chewy. I tried the soft peppermint pillows, thinking maybe they would be better and they weren't so chewy, but melted more. The best thing texture wise for me is the white chocolate/peppermint bark type candy, chopped up, for frosting. Those melt too, when baked, so I've found pretty much nothing for that. Good luck! Annie

I'll have to see if i can get hold of fresh mint. My house is not conducive to growing stuff inside (or outside for that matter), because the only room where there's a table at the picture-window on south side, is a big, drafty room, which gets sunlight mostly in the winter (because other seasons, its shrouded by trees. My one foray at trying to plant a garden in one of the few sunny areas in the backyard, was horrible. For one thing, it probably took a toll on my fingers and wrists (i have arthritis and trigger finger) by using an augur drill-bit which wound up hitting such extremely tough tree-roots, and boulders, that it proved impossible to clear that plot. But even worse, was that i developed a horrific case of bodywide poison ivy. Long story, but suffice that there's no gardening gloves which fit my small hands (ditto in that i need little-boy socks for my feet), and because my hands were sorta flopping inside the gardening gloves, i discarded them in disgust, because i couldn't maintain a good grip on the drill. Voila! Major poison-ivy was the result. BTW, my finger arthritis was further worsened at a physical-therapy center, where they had me pulling on a rope as part of their "therapy" regimen. But it more resembled one-size-fits-all primitivity.