Butter mints are one of those things you sort of forget about until you find a bowl of them and then eat the entire bowl. They’re so good, easy to make and great for any occasion. I have always called them after dinner mints, but it turns out they still taste just as good if you call them butter mints. Turns out, the homemade ones are way better than the ones you can buy in stores. They still melt in your mouth, but they are soft and fluffy inside instead of resembling chalk.
These can be made any color, to match any theme or occasion. You can put them in individual baggies for party favors, or just put out big bowls of them with a scoop. They travel well so they make good Christmas gifts. They are also great for showers and weddings… Basically anything is a good excuse to make these. I’ve even shipped these across the country for gifts.
Your ingredients are simple: powdered sugar, sweetened condensed milk, butter, salt, peppermint extract, and food coloring if you want it. I use a pizza cutter to cut mine, but you can use a knife if you’re allergic to fun or something. Your butter needs to be softened to room temperature, but not melted.
Add half a stick of butter and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to your mixer. You don’t have to use a mixer, but it really helps. A hand mixer will work also. Turn your mixer on until the salt and butter are well mixed and the butter is smooth and fluffy. Use your paddle attachment! This is one of those times where the whisk attachment will end in frustration. If you do use the whisk, don’t blame me when your entire batch of mints ends up inside the attachment!
Next add 3 1/4 cups of powdered sugar, 1/3 cup of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract, and any color you want. You can also wait to add color until later if you want to break the batch up into several colors. Personally, I just make a separate batch for each color since they’re so easy to make. A can of sweetened condensed milk will make three batches, so that’s helpful to know when planning colors. As usual, I use the wilton gel colors. Depending on how vibrant you want the colors, I use between 1 and 3 teaspoons of coloring per batch. Unless you regularly enjoy toothpaste as a snack, be extremely careful when measuring your mint extract! Do not measure it over the bowl, just a few extra drops can take you from minty to Colgate Total in the blink of an eye. Taste your dough as you mix it, you can always add more extract later. The dough will start out pretty crumbly like in the picture above, but keep going until it forms a nice solid ball of dough.
Once your dough looks like the picture above, you’re done mixing. You should be able to easily break off a piece and roll it into a ball. If it’s too sticky, add a little more powdered sugar. It should be similar to play-doh. If it’s crumbling, add a little more sweetened condensed milk. Just a warning, a little bit goes a long way.
Next, wake up your inner kid (or if you have actual kids, they’d probably like this part) and start the play-doh fun. First roll a small piece of dough into a ball, and then, on a cutting board, roll the ball into a dough snake.
Use your pizza cutter (or knife if you’re a fuddy duddy) to slice your dough snake into equal sized “pillows” on the cutting board. Next, simply pick up the cutting board and let the mints fall onto parchment paper. If your dough is too wet, you may have to bang the side of the cutting board on the parchment to get the mints to fall. Try not to touch them too much, as they will be easy to bend and smush until they are dry.
Once all your mints are on the parchment, let them sit for a couple hours to dry. Sometimes I even leave them out over night if the dough is too sticky. You can cover them with a few pieces of parchment to keep flies and family members away.
After a few hours, (or less if you live in dry climate) they should be dry enough to slide around on the parchment. Get a Zip-lock bag and transfer your mints into it. The easiest way to do this is to pick the parchment up, fold it in half and let the mints fall out one side into the bag. If you have more than one color, now is the time to mix them. Close the bag, and gently tilt the bag back and forth until they are mixed.
Next, put the bag in the fridge OPEN. This will let the outside of the mints harden, but the inside will stay fluffy and soft. Once they have hardened enough, you can close the bags. They don’t need to be stored in the fridge. If you live in a humid climate, check to make sure they aren’t getting to soft. If they do, simply put them back in the fridge open for a few hours.
Here I’ve used them as a base for Oreo Ball snowmen gifts. They are great for goody bags and favors. Usually I just tie them up in clear baggies with a little ribbon. Whatever you do with them, people won’t be able to quit eating them.
Full Recipe Below:
Don't Call Me Sweetie 