Homemade Butter Mints are simply the best! An easy to make sweet, buttery, and delicious old fashioned candy recipe that you could literally eat hand fulls of!
So easy to make at home, we love baby shower yellow, but feel free to customize for the holidays (liked red and green for Christmas) or a nice traditional soft mint green for your candy.
The first thing you should know about making homemade old fashioned butter mints is that while the recipe itself is totally uncomplicated, they do required drying out overnight, so you will need to plan at least one day ahead.
My recipe makes around 3.5 cups of butter mints and I love how they look in the light soft yellows that emulate the butter flavor.
I understand that making candied, well, anything, can seem scary, but these butter mints are not hard at ALL. I am a great cook but all my baking things (while taste great) keep me shy. This is not that – it’s an easy, peasy, butter squeezy after dinner delightful dessert! In fact, some people call these “after dinner butter mints” because its easy to grab a handful after dinner and cleanse the pallet.
The mix of peppermint oil, vanilla and all that sugar mean the are the perfect balance of sweet to feel like you got a treat without overdoing it – unless you do over do it…we all have been there!
They make amazing mints for the holidays and are lovely on a table full of delicious desserts like cakes and soft lofthouse cookies.
You can also try my favorite cream cheese mints as well.
Best Butter Mints Recipe
These butter mints will remind you of being a kid again! Silky and smooth, they are often served after dinner, during holiday times and definitely at weddings and baby showers. Do not get intimated by the end product because its simply a mix and cut recipe requiring no baking! Just the kind of dessert this busy mom can appreciate.
butter mints ingredients
- 1/2 cup, 1 stick butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil (this one)
- dash salt
- yellow food coloring
Peppermint Oil or Peppermint Extract?
Peppermint oil (straight up oil) and peppermint extract (extract has oil and alcohol) are not the exact same thing. Oils are stronger and require less than extracts, which are more liquid and contain less of the “flavor” balanced with alcohol. Either way, Peppermint is really strong so you don’t want to overdo it. I personally use this Peppermint Oil (food grade) by LorAnn
. The peppermint flavor is also what makes them perfect Christmas butter mints! If you need to use an extract, the balance is usually 4:1. So in this case, you would need 1 tsp of extract to reach the same peppermint content as 1/4 tsp of oil.
How to make Old Fashioned Butter Mints
Add softened (not melted) butter to a stand mixer and beat well until smooth.
Add sugar, half and half, vanilla, peppermint, and salt. Beat on low until dry and crumbly.
Half and Half NOTE: Powdered sugar doesn’t always measure the same person to person, depending on how its packed. You may need to add a tiny bit more of half and half to get to this point if it absorbs too quickly. Just only use a very small amount so you do not over wet your dough.
Add 2 drops yellow food coloring (or any color you like) and increase speed to high and beat until smooth and a dough forms.
Sprinkle powdered sugar onto a flat surface.
Remove dough from bowl.
Take a small, palm size amount.
Cover remaining dough with a damp paper towel.
On the sugar dusted surface, roll the dough into a long snake shape about 1/2″ thick.
Use a sharp knife to cut the mints into tiny bites.
Transfer to a baking sheet using a rubber spatula.
Let set and dry overnight.
Store in an airtight container.
Can I make Butter Mints in Other Shapes?
Yes, you can! Just make sure they are not overly big or they may not dry properly. You can mix them up with mini cookie cutters
or even roll into balls. Personally I believe they should be in bite sizes though so just be careful on not making them *too* big.
If I use extract, can I use a different extract than Peppermint?
I think butter mints are typically peppermint, however, places like Micheal’s or Hobby Lobby have an amazing baking aisle with tons of other extract flavors. I would def encourage you to test out a few other ones like cotton candy and strawberry extracts. You could really have a lot of fun with this recipe base! Just remember that oil and extract is usually a 4: 1 ratio (as in you need 1 tsp of extract to contain the same flavor as 1/4th tsp of oil) Oils are stronger and therefore superior for a butter mint recipe and you also need to balance the liquid content when making things like mints. If you want to skip making them entirely, you can buy butter mints
here.
5 Unique Holiday Desserts
- Apple Dump Cake in Crock Pot
- Marshmallow Fluff Dip
- Golden Oreo Truffles
- Bread Pudding
- Christmas Cookie Dough Dip
Best Butter Mints (Homemade)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (equivalent to 1 stick butter, softened)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon half and half
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil
- dash salt
- yellow food coloring
Instructions
- Add butter to a stand mixer and beat well until smooth.
- Add sugar, half and half, vanilla, peppermint, and salt. Beat on low until dry and crumbly.
- Half and Half NOTE: Powdered sugar doesn't always measure the same person to person, depending on how its packed. You may need to add a tiny bit more of half and half to get to this point if it absorbs too quickly. Just only use a very small amount so you do not over wet your dough.
- Add 2 drops yellow food coloring and increase speed to high and beat until smooth and a dough forms.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar onto a flat surface.
- Remove dough from bowl.
- Take a small, palm size amount of mint dough.
- Cover remaining dough with a damp paper towel so it does not dry while prepping mints.
- On a powder sugar dusted surface, roll the mint dough into a long snake shape about 1/2" thick. Use a sharp knife to cut the mints into mini shapes that are bite sized. Transfer butter mints to a baking sheet using a rubber spatula.
- Let mints set and dry overnight.
- Store butter mints in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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