Old-Fashioned Butter Mints
User Reviews
4.4
Old-Fashioned Butter Mints
Description
This recipe blends softened butter with confectioners’ sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and peppermint extract to form a stiff, crumbly dough. Mixing carefully balances sweetness and mint flavor, avoiding overpowering the delicate texture. Portioning the dough into smaller balls and adding food coloring to each allows for varied hues in the finished mints, though the color may be slightly speckled rather than perfectly even.
The mints yield a tender, buttery candy with a mild yet distinct peppermint flavor. The richness of butter combined with smooth condensed milk provides a creamy base, while the confectioners’ sugar gives them their characteristic sweetness and structure. These mints work well as small treats after meals or at gatherings, valued for their nostalgic flavor and pleasant meltaway texture.
When using mint extract, it’s important to add it carefully as it is more potent than vanilla extract. Different types of mint extract (peppermint, spearmint) can alter the flavor slightly. Variations with other extracts (cinnamon, lemon, orange) could be explored. Portioning the dough for coloring before mixing the extract fully throughout may result in uneven flavor distribution.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter softened (I used unsalted, but salted may be substituted based on preference)
- ¼ teaspoon salt consider omitting if you used salted butter
- 3 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar if needed, plus 1/4 cup+
- ⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- Food Coloring optional
Instructions
- To the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and salt and beat for 1 minute on medium-high speed.
- Add 3 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, milk, peppermint, and beat on medium-low speed until a dough forms. If the dough seems wet, add additional confectioners’ sugar until dough combines (I use 3 1/2 cups sugar). The dough will be crumbly but will come together when pinched and squeezed into a ball.
- Taste the batter. If you want a more intense mint flavor, add additional mint extract, to taste (see note below).
- Remove dough from the mixer, separate it into 1 to 4 smaller balls, and add one ball back into the mixer. Add the food coloring of your choice to the ball by squirting the droplets on top of the dough (careful when you turn on the mixer), and paddle on low speed until coloring is well-blended. Coloring will not blend completely into each and every speck of dough if examined extremely closely, but overall, mix until color is uniform. (I separated approximately two-thirds of the dough and made it green using about 15 drops green food coloring and made one-third of the dough red-pink by using about 7 drops red food coloring).
- Wash the mixing bowl and the paddle in between each color change and repeat until all the balls are colored.
- After the dough has been colored, either wrap it with plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator to be rolled out later or roll it immediately.
- To shape the butter mints, place a golf-ball sized amount of dough in your hands and roll dough into long thin cylinders about 1 centimeter wide. Place cylinders on countertop and with a pizza cutter (or knife – be careful of your counter), slice cylinders into bite-sized pieces, approximately 1 centimeter long.
- Store mints in an airtight container in the refrigerator where they will keep for many weeks.
Notes
- Mint extracts are much stronger than vanilla; add carefully to avoid overly intense mint flavor.
- Select peppermint, spearmint, or other mint extracts based on your taste preference, as they vary in flavor.
- Consider experimenting with other extracts like cinnamon or citrus for different flavor variations.
- Mix the dough in smaller batches for more uniform coloring and flavor when using food coloring and extracts.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 200mints
Amount Per Serving
Calories 11 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1 | |
| Calories | 11kcal | 1% |
| Carbohydrates | 2g | 1% |
| Cholesterol | 1mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 5mg | 0% |
| Sugar | 2g | 4% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.4
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