No Bake Butter Mint Candy

Easy to make No Bake Butter Mint Candy is a perfect festive addition to your Christmas dessert trays and always a huge hit during the holidays.

These old-fashioned Peppermint butter candies are a perfect easy-to-make gift because they’re so hard to resist. Homemade buttermints simply melt in your mouth, and when you decorate them with chocolate everyone will love them even more!

And whether you call them Christmas peppermint patties, Sugar Plum candies, dinner mints, after dinner mints, or wedding mints, this dessert recipe will be one you make over and over again.

In fact, these are perfect for any time of year, so don’t stop at just the holidays! And if you love mint flavor as much as I do, be sure to check out What to do with Fresh Mint!

We appreciate you

Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

Old timey Candy

Do you remember those soft mints from when you were a kid?

Maybe your grandma had a small dish full that she’d put out on holidays and special occasions. They were often in pretty pastel colors so they were served at weddings and baby showers.

Well, this walk down memory lane is super easy to make. Just mix up the 4 ingredients, add some food coloring if desired, mix, and shape. That’s it! No baking. Nothing to cook. Easy peasy. Nothing difficult.

You can even get the kids involved in mixing and shaping the dough. It is kind of like edible play dough!

How to make

These buttermints are super easy. In fact, the instructions are this: Just mix. No cooking. Just mix all the ingredients together by hand or with a stand mixer or a hand mixer.

Then, shape to desired shape.

Dip ‘em in chocolate after they have dried. Or leave them plain.

The more detailed instructions go like this:

Cream the butter (softened butter, not melted butter) and corn syrup together. Mix in the peppermint extract, food coloring, and pinch of salt.

If you’re doing multiple colors of dough, add the coloring after adding the powdered sugar.

Add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time. Beat on low until incorporated to keep the powdered sugar from flying all over. Then, beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Powdered sugar doesn’t always measure the same person to person, depending on how it’s packed. That’s why there’s a range of cups to add. You want a smooth and not sticky dough. One that holds its shape.

Knead with your hands to incorporate any last bits of sugar or dough.

If you’re making multiple colors, divide the dough in half (or however many colors you have), and add the food coloring to each piece, starting with 1 drop and kneading, adding 1 drop at a time, until the desired colors are reached. Gather each piece of dough into a ball.

Shape

Shape the dough. More on shaping the dough lower, with some really fun ideas!

While you work, keep the bowl loosely covered in plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.

If you’re rolling them out on the counter, line the counter with parchment paper so they don’t stick to the counter, and you won’t have to dust the counter with more powdered sugar.

Using a cookie dough scoop, make small balls of dough. Flatten the dough ball with the bottom of a glass that’s been dipped in powdered sugar, or with the palm of your hand that’s been dusted in powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

Keep your hands lightly dusted with powdered sugar as needed to reduce any stickiness to make the dough into any shape you like.

The dough can also be rolled into a rope and cut into small pieces.

Place the shaped candies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and allow the candies to dry at room temperature, uncovered, overnight.

Dip them in melted chocolate if you’d like.

Use a fork to move the candy around in the melted chocolate. Remove the dipped candy and shake off excess chocolate. Place the dipped candy on a piece of parchment paper.

You can also dip half of the candy in chocolate or drizzle the chocolate over the top.

When all the candies are dipped, place them in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

Store the buttermints, layered between parchment or wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Refrigerate up to 1 month. For longer storage, store in freezer up to 2 months.  

What shapes can I make?

I made my peppermint butter candies into disks by flattening a dough ball with the bottom of a glass. You can also use your hand to flatten them.

The other classic shape is to roll the dough out into a rope, and cut the rope into small ½ inch long pieces. This gives you the classic dinner buttermint shape.

Make them into homemade Junior Mints by making small balls of dough and dipping in chocolate.

Festive Candy Canes are easy to make by tinting half of the dough red and leaving half untinted. Make a rope of each colored and plain dough. Gently twist ropes together. Shape twisted rope into a candy cane.

Create minty butter Snowmen: Omit any food color. Roll dough into small balls, and stack 3 different sized balls together. Decorate as desired.

You can roll the dough out like you would for cut out cookies and cut with small cookie cutters into any shape you want.

Press the dough disks into a candy mold or the bottom of a shaped glass for a pretty texture on top of the disk.

Make these for Easter using springtime colors and shape them into Easter eggs.

Can I use other flavorings?

Yes, you can use any flavor that you like. Try cinnamon, almond extract, or lemon extract. They will be great!

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