I have always loved these soft smooth buttery mints. Not those hard so-called “party” mints that crack your teeth (and like Grandma sometimes had in her candy dish), but the butter mints in soft yellow or pastel shades that were often put out as “after dinner” mints at special occasions or for parties when I was growing up.
I had pinned a recipe for homemade butter mints some time ago on my Pinterest page, not knowing when I’d get around to making them, and/or deciding on an occasion to make them so I wouldn’t eat them ALL myself! Then a friend recently asked me about them for a special party she is working on, and it was the perfect opportunity to give the recipe a whirl.
And whirl I did indeed! Woohoo! Are these ever EASY peasy and even better than I remember.
Did your Grandma always have a candy dish full of these little treats at her house like mine?
Grandma kept hers in a special candy dish atop the server in her dining room.
I can still picture it vividly. It sat on the far left back corner of the server, and it was amber glass with a pointed dome lid on a pedestal. We always tried to carefully lift the lid when we were sneaking taking a piece so as not to “clink” the glass and make it ring throughout the entire house (at least that is what it felt like!) Because if you did happen to just tap it ever so lightly to make a tiny tingy noise, Grandma’s little dog, Felix, would come a running! Felix loved those mints, and you always had to throw him one if you wanted to prevent the entire house from knowing you were in the candy jar again!
My brother was often known for purposely rattling the jar just to get Felix all worked up. The poor little thing did practic
ally have a heart attack when he heard that dish a ringing!
When I was trying to describe the candy dish, I thought I’d google it using the descriptive words I came up with, and to my surprise, I found what I believe would be the EXACT match (at least as far as my memory serves)! It is actually for sale on Etsy. I saw several. I guess they are considered somewhat prized antiques at this point. I’m kinda tempted to get it, but I think I’ll just keep the memory.
Here is the recipe I found on Barefeet in the Kitchen. (Mary even made a cocoa mint version if you want to check that out too, and her recipe is slightly adapted from Averie Cooks)
Homemade Old-Fashioned Butter Mints
Ingredients:
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 1/4 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Optional: Food coloring for the desired shade you would like
Using an electric stand mixer, combine the soft butter and salt, and beat to combine. Add the condensed milk and beat again to combine. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating to combine thoroughly. Add the peppermint extract and food coloring if you are adding. The dough will be mostly crumbs, but should stick together when squeezed into a ball. If it is sticky, add a little more powdered sugar.
Remove the dough from the mixer and pull off golf ball size pieces. Roll each ball with the palm of your hand into a long skinny log about 1/2″ in diameter – just as if you were making a snake with play dough. Slice the strips into tiny mint-size pieces. A pizza cutter works great for this, and you can cut several strips at a time quick and easily.
Spread the soft pieces across a baking sheet and allow them to sit at room temperature overnight. You could speed up the process and put them in the refrigerator uncovered. When they have hardened enough to store, transfer the mints to an airtight container. Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 