Rainbow Peppermint Patties

In the large bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer), beat 4 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar with corn syrup, water, peppermint extract, and shortening at medium speed until just combined. Knead on a work surface dusted with remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar until smooth. If it's not a doughy consistency, add a tiny bit of water until it's workable. Divide dough evenly into six balls.

In a small bowl, color each ball red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet respectively. Remember that adding food coloring could make your ball a little too wet, so add more powdered sugar until the ball is workable and not sticky.

Take one ball at a time, roll it into a snake shape, place it in between two sheets of parchment paper, and roll it into a rectangle about 11x5. Place each sheet of dough in the fridge to chill for about 15-20 minutes.

Once dough has chilled, remove the parchment from each layer (leaving one layer on the bottom so it doesn't stick to your surface) and stack each layer on top of the other in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Chilling the dough allows the parchment paper to be removed without tearing the dough. If the dough begins to tear, chill the dough longer.

Once the layers have been stacked on top of each other, slightly roll them to get rid of any air bubbles.

Trim the long end of one side with a sharp knife so that you have an even edge to begin rolling. Starting with the long side, begin rolling the dough using the parchment paper to help roll. If your dough is too hard here, let it soften a bit before rolling. Then freeze the roll of dough until hardened (about an hour).

When the log is frozen, cut into 1/4 inch circles. Turn the log after each couple of slices to keep the log round because the pressure of the knife can make the log turn oblong.

Melt dipping chocolate according to the package directions. Using a fork, dip one pinwheel, shaking the excess off and set it on parchment lined cookie sheets. Repeat with all of them. Return to the freezer to chill if they get too soft.

Place patties in the fridge or freezer to set. Store patties in between layers of parchment paper so they don't stick to each other.

Inspired by: http://www.hanielas.com/2011/12/candy-cane-peppermint-patties.html