DIY Wedding Mints - a Family Tradition

This recipe was handed down from my Nana Ruby.

She had four daughters...my mother had four daughters...

my oldest sister Beth had four daughters...

sister Lindy had three daughters....

sister Lisa had a daughter and a son....

and I have three sons.

Most of these have already gotten married and

had these homemade mints at their weddings.

Me included!

We make it a family occasion.  Everybody gets together

around the kitchen table and rolls out mints,

visiting, sharing stories.

IT'S A FAMILY TRADITION 

Now it's my son, Austin who is getting married!

WEDDING MINTS

You will need:

4 oz. of Cream Cheese (not low fat)

1 lb. of powdered sugar

1 tsp. mint flavoring (or flavor of your choice)

food color (I use gel)

Start mixing your cream cheese and powdered sugar.

Use a fork, if needed to "cut" in the cream cheese.

Add in your flavoring and coloring.

It will be extremely dry.

It will NOT look like it will mix into a dough,

but resist the urge to add any water.

I promise it will come together. 

EACH RECIPE WILL MAKE 100 TO 150 MINTS

(depending of the size)

I will be making four batches.

Half with mint flavoring in purple.

Half with almond flavoring in fuscia.

 

Use your (clean) hands to knead the dough...

and knead...

Eventually it will turn into the consistency of play dough.

Yay!

Purchase a candy mold in whatever shape you choose.

Usually we made roses and leaves.

But for Austin and Katlynn's wedding

I chose hearts.

The royal purple will match the bridesmaid dresses!

Set up your work station at a table:

Put down wax paper

a bowl of granulated sugar

a drying rack (cookie rack) or paper towels

a knife

clean hands

roll out a snake of dough about 8 inches long

and the thickness of a magic marker.

Cut into sections.

For my molds I needed about the size of a large blueberry,

smaller than a grape or cherry.

Just keep trying, until you get the right size.

Roll the balls in the granulated sugar

and squish into the molds.

Be sure to push the dough to the edges of the mold.

Turn over the mold

and the mints will pop out.

Turn them right side up to dry.

(if the mints wont come out of the mold easily,

go ahead and take those out and clean the mold.

Now sprinkle the mold sheet with granulated sugar,

this will help them not stick to the mold)

The top row, above is done correctly.

The bottom heart is not pushed completely to the edges... 

Notice how the heart on the left is much more defined

than the one only pushed part way down.

You don't want to "overstuff" the mold either

as shown above on the right....

It will come out as a blob (on the left)

So just take your time to press each mint completely to the edges

and take off any access.

Now put these on a rack to dry for at least 24 hours.

Cover them lightly with paper towel.

If you do not have a rack, lay them on paper towel

and turn them every 12 hours or so.

I let mine dry for 36 hours

and then freeze in between paper towels

in ziplock bags until the day of the wedding.

This can be very time consuming.

So if you have to put away the dough for awhile,

put it in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator.

 

This is a very easy recipe and so delicious!

We usually snack on them as we're making them,

so be sure to make some extras!

 

Keep Calm and Kerri On!