Name: Butter Mints Candy
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 750 min
Ingredients: 60 g butter; 360 g icing sugar sifted; 1 tbsp condensed milk or milk; A pinch of salt; ⅛ tsp mint extract; Food coloring of choice

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Homemade butter mints candy is nothing new to most people. But for those who have not tried them, I would say you have to find time to try them.

I personally find these butter mints candy a very clever candy idea. After all, they are so easy to make. And are perfect to satisfy the craving for something sweet at the end of a hearty meal.

Pink and yellow butter mints candy in a glass jar. — Perfect Sweet Treats for Baby Showers, Bridal Showers or Any Special Occasion or Special Event

How to Make
Notes
Candy Shaping Options
Like this super easy candy recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
Recipe (Printable)

How to Make

Ingredients

Butter
Powdered sugar (icing sugar or confectioners' sugar)
Condensed milk or milk
Salt
Peppermint extract
Food coloring of choice

Making the candy

You start the process by sifting the icing (powdered) sugar. Icing sugar tends to be lumpy and it is best sifted before making these mint candies or you could end up with tiny lumps of sugar in your candy. Once the icing sugar is sifted, set it aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy.
Add the sifted powdered sugar, a little at a time over low speed (to avoid the sugar flying all over) until it is all combined with butter.
The mixture will appear crumbly at this stage, and that is because the proportion of sugar is much more than butter.
Add the condensed milk (or milk if you prefer) and mint essence and continue mixing until it comes together better. Scrap the sides and bottom of the bowl.
If the mixture is still crumbly, try pressing it with your fingers until a dough forms. It should come together into a lump . If it still appears crumbly, continue to knead with your hand. The heat in your hands will melt the butter and help the candy come together.
If you wish to color the candy, add the color now. Mix it well.

Shaping and cutting the mints

Next is shaping the butter mints candy. I divided my butter mints mixture into two and colored them gold and fuchsia (using AmeriColor Gold gel color & AmeriColor Fuchsia gel color).
Roll them (by hand) into long thin ropes and twist both colors together. Doing this is a little tricky especially if the ropes are long as they tend to break when twisted. It is best to do with shorter strips. And every time you see a crack, pinch the cracks together so that the mint strips are patched.
Roll the twisted mint rope until it becomes smooth and is in the width you want. You can still continue to twist the strip while rolling it smoothly if you find the colors are not so well twisted. And finally, cut it into equal lengths with a sharp knife. Let the mints set and dry at room temperature before storing them in a candy jar. The candies need not be stored in an airtight container.

Pink and yellow butter mint candy arranged in a circular motion on a white candy dish. — Perfect choice for after-dinner mints or party favors

Notes

Ingredients

There are quite a number of different variations to butter mints candy recipes out there. While the basic ingredients remain to be butter, icing sugar and mint extract, you can add other ingredients such as vanilla extract or even orange extract to give in a little extra flavoring.
I used salted butter in this recipe, but if you choose to use unsalted butter, add a tiny pinch of salt to the butter when creaming it.

Milk or condensed milk?

And to help the mixture come together, some butter mint candy recipes call for the use of milk or cream. In my recipe below, I chose to add condensed milk. I was a bit concerned about adding milk to the mixture. I was worried that the candies may not last as long and so chose to add condensed milk instead.

Use of mint

The amount of mint extract can also vary. It’s purely a matter of personal preference as to how much mint you want to add to your butter mints. In my recipe below, the amount of peppermint extract used gives the butter mints a mild mint flavor.
If you prefer a stronger mint taste, you can always add more. I would strongly suggest trying out with a small amount first. Add on as it seems fit for you. That way, you don’t risk ending up with a too-intensely minty butter mints.

Color and shape

The other interesting fact about these butter mints is that not only can you color them as you like, you can also shape them to suit your liking. The butter mints mixture, once done is of a soft fondant consistency.
Although not as stretchy, it can be rolled, cut and shaped into any shape. The simplest is to roll the mixture into long ropes and cut them into equal sizes. Or simply form them into small balls and flatten them lightly with the back of a drinking glass.

Pink and yellow homemade butter mints in a gold box. — Perfect soft mints - makes great gifts

Candy Shaping Options

Here are some cool ways to shape your butter mints candy.

Round flat patties

The easiest way to shape the butter mints candy would be to roll them into round little balls and press them down using the bottom of a drinking glass that has been dipped in icing sugar.

Designed with a fork

Similar to the round flat patties shape, start by forming round balls. Place them on a parchment paper, slightly apart from one another. Use a fork to flatten the butter mint candy patties, leaving the fork prints on them as you do it.

Twisted rolls

Divide the butter mint candy mixture into 2 and color them as you wish. Roll each color into long thin ropes.
Twist both colors to form a twisted strip of mint. It might be a little tricky to twist the ropes as they are not quite elastic so its always better to try with not-too-long strips.
Twist and roll until you get a well twisted, smooth rope. Cut the mint rope into equal sizes.

Rolled and cut

Place the butter mints candy mixture between 2 plastic sheets. Roll to desired thickness and use mini cookie cutters (dipped in icing sugar) to cut out your desired homemade butter mint shapes.

Easy right?

Like this super easy candy recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my butter mints candy recipe. This amount produces about 460 g of butter mints candy mixture and the final number of mints you get will depend on how large each mint is cut or shaped into.