Make Something Mondays: Buttercream Mints

One of my adult children remembered that we made these when she was young--it was the year that everyone we knew received mints for the holidays. She thought it would be fun to do it again, this time with her step-siblings, so I searched and searched to come up with a recipe similar to the one I used about 2 decades ago (gosh, that makes me feel old!).

These are simple enough for even the little ones to roll into balls. Or blobs. We have some Monster Mints, and some Tiny Mints, so size is not too important. Here's the recipe if you want to try them:

1-1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp peppermint extract
7 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar
food coloring

Cream the butter in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, mixing after each cup of sugar. By the last cup or two of sugar you may need to knead the dough by hand. (Our dough was too sticky, so we added an extra cup of powdered sugar.)

On wax paper, divide the dough into smaller batches (one batch per color). Mix several drops of food coloring into one batch, adding a few more drops of color as you knead if the color looks too pale. (You may want to wear disposable plastic gloves for this; one of us still has bright red fingers.)

Color all the batches of dough, choose one to work with, and let the others chill in the refrigerator.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll into balls. Place the balls close together but not touching on the cookie sheet. You can flatten them a bit with a fork, stack them into snowmen, or just leave them as balls. When a cookie sheet is full, pop it into the refrigerator (or freezer if you're in a hurry) for about 30 minutes to firm. Repeat until you've used all the dough or are tired of making little balls. Store the mints in a covered container in the refrigerator or freezer (I like them frozen--they melt in your mouth quickly either way!).

This post was inspired by Jolly Mom and Go Graham Go!, the ingenious moms behind Make Something Monday. We'd love for you to join us next Monday!