Cream Cheese Mints

5 from 5 votes

Homemade cream cheese mints have such a creamy soft texture and pretty colors, they will be a welcome addition to any event you serve them at.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Chill Time4

Total Time5 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cream Cheese Mints Recipe

Servings:

Calories: 42kcal

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons salted sweet cream butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure peppermint extract
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds powdered sugar, or 7½ cups
3 to 6 drops gel food color (in the colors yellow, blue, green, and red)
1 cup powdered sugar, for rolling the mints

Instructions

Using either a stand mixer or a handheld mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the softened cream cheese and softened butter for 1½ to 2 minutes, until smooth.
Add the peppermint and vanilla extract, and continue mixing for another 1 to 1½ minutes.
Lower the mixer speed to low. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Once all the powdered sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and continue mixing for 1 more minute until completely smooth.
Evenly divide the cream cheese mixture into 4 bowls.
Add 3 to 6 drops of 1 color to the first bowl, stir until the color is even and no streaks are visible. Repeat the process of the remaining colors in the remaining bowls. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Add the 1 cup of powdered sugar to a medium-size mixing bowl.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle a dusting of powdered sugar onto the parchment paper.
Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the tinted cream cheese mixture. Roll into a ball. Cut the rolled ball in half. Roll the 2 halves into smaller balls, and then roll in the powdered sugar. Place the coated ball on the prepared baking sheet.
Gently press the fork tines on top of the coated ball. If the fork sticks to the ball, you can dip the fork in the powdered sugar. Repeat the process until all colors are coated and pressed.
Allow the pressed mints to dry on the coated parchment paper for at least 4 hours. If the weather is humid, once the tops of the mints are dried, you will need to turn the mints over and even transfer them to a drying rack to allow the softer side to finish drying.

Video

Notes

You can use small silicone candy molds for cute, shaped mints. Dry the same as directed below.
Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature to ensure the mint mixture doesn’t have any lumps in it.
The amount of food color gel used is up to you, depending on how deep you want each color to be. Using 3 to 4 drops is usually enough to achieve the delicate pastel color traditionally associated with these mints.
We used at least 1 full tablespoon of the rolled/pressed mint and found it just was too big. It was handy to use the tablespoon scoop and then cut the little balls in half. It worked like a charm!
You could also swirl the mint colors together when rolling the mints into the halved balls.

Nutrition