December 8, 2014

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This might be one of the easier recipes I’ve ever had to follow: only a few ingredients, and no baking needed. They’re very tasty, and they  make a really great hostess gift that has a nice personal touch. These cream cheese mints go really well with our citrus-ginger simmering spices, Winter White Sangria, and Hostess Gift Tray to create one complete package.

Ingredients:

-1 package of room temperature cream cheese

– a lot of powdered sugar (I didn’t measure, maybe 5 cups?)

– a little bit of food or icing coloring

– peppermint extract (at least a tablespoon)

-a frosting piping tip (star works nicely) and a baggie

ingredients

Step 1: Let your cream cheese acclimate to room temperature.

This is important, because if you don’t it is hard to whip the cream cheese appropriately and it doesn’t mix as well with the other ingredients.

Step 2: Whip your cream cheese with at least 1 tablespoon of peppermint extract, and food coloring.

I added a little more than 1 tbsp of mint, because I like my mints strong. Add a little food coloring of your choice- I used a festive green. You can use normal food coloring; I just happened to have some nicer icing coloring lying around.

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Step 3: Add powdered sugar until stiff peaks form and don’t melt.

I just kept adding about a half cup of sugar at a time until the frosting got very stiff. I probably added about 5 or 6 cups total. Don’t add it all at the same time, or you will have a sugar cloud in the air and powdered sugar all over everything in a twelve inch radius.

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Step 4: Scoop the frosting in to a piping bag with a star or other festive tip, and pipe out on to some parchment paper.

Some people have fancy tools for this; I must admit that I have a piping gun that is amazingly easy to operate. In my spare time I make some pretty awesome party cakes, so I upgraded some of my tools to effectively make this happen.

You should be able to fill at least 2 baking sheets with this mixture. One thing to keep in mind is that it is a little sticky- taping down your parchment paper or weighting it so that you can create the little kisses is a good idea.

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Step 5: Freeze the mints, or stick ’em outside to get them a little cold. This will help make it easy to separate them from the baking sheet to put in jars.

Step 6: Once cooled down, put them in little jars and decorate the jars! They’re a great hostess gift. Keep refrigerated until use- they’ll keep for about a month. If they get warm they will get a little squishy, and as they are milk based you don’t want to leave them warm for a while.

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See? Super easy!

See the decorations that create a rustic-glam $25 Christmas Tree:

3d paper ball cover photo

salt dough star garland cover image

COVER 5 MINUTE GLITTER PINECONES

clothespin star on tree

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I look forward to the rest of the 12 Days of DIY as well:

12 Days of DIY 2014

 

 

Check out the 2013 12 Days of DIY:

Rosemary Peppermint Sugar Scrub

3 Quick Cinnamon Stick Decorations

Cork Firestarters

Glass Ornaments

Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments

Paper Scrap Trees

Peppermint Bark

How to Make a Snowflake

Christmas Scent and Hot Toddies

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Printable Candle Wraps

Tomato Cage Christmas Tree

 

 

Published December 8, 2014 | By