My grandma, Audrey Henry, started the tradition of making frango mint cups in our family. She was looking for a quick and easy dessert besides Christmas cookies to make during the holidays.
Although my grandma has now passed on, making her recipe during the holidays is a fun family tradition that my mom and I do together to remember her.
When she was alive, the dessert was such a hit in our family that she had a difficult time keeping the it in the freezer — the sinfully rich treat would often disappear to satisfy my grandpa’s sweet tooth.
Although the famous Frango mints are not used in the recipe, it’s hard to tell the difference between the taste of a real Frango mint and one of my grandma’s frango mint cups.
The mint cups taste like candy canes wrapped in a rich chocolate truffle. When I smell the minty aroma of the dessert, my mind often wanders back to memories of when I was little. I remember wanting to help my grandma make her frango mint cups, but I was so short that I could not even look over the counter top. Because I could not see what she was doing, it felt like an eternity waiting for her to finish mixing the ingredients so I could lick the spatula.
Now that I am older, I always forget how rich the dessert is once it is finally made. I will often put heaps of red and green sprinkled Christmas cookies on my plate next to my frango mint cup. By the time I take the last bite of the rich chocolate, I can hardly bear the thought of sneaking another Christmas cookie off the table.
Frangos, which are sold at The Bon Marche, come in several different flavors and are encased in a colorful octagon-shaped box.
My grandma, who lived in Seattle, may have invented the recipe for her mint cups because Frango chocolate originated in Seattle and Frangos, like Starbucks, are a signature to Seattle.
Robert Spector, author of “The Legend of Frango Chocolate,” wrote that the Frango name first described a frozen dessert served in 1919 at Frederick & Nelson, a Seattle department store. Frederick and Nelson’s introduced a chocolate truffle, which it called a Frango in 1928.
Frangos in Seattle bought the license in 1992 when Frederick and Nelson’s folded.
This holiday season, for a quick dessert with a history as rich as its taste, serve frango mint cups. But watch out: They may disappear before they are served!