Butter Mint Pillows (2024)

Butter Mint Pillows - creamy, peppermint flavored, melts in your mouth delicious mints; perfect for the holiday season.

My “Things I Want to Bake” list is endless. I sometimes wonder if I am ever going to be able to bake AND share everything. Being a type-A personality, this sometimes overwhelms me. It is for this reason that I was delighted when I finally got around to making a recipe I have coveted since 2009, Butter Mint Pillows.

These mints, adapted from a Woman’s Day magazine, was extremely easy to make. The ingredients are few, and although this recipe could be viewed as tedious, they were worlds more fun to make than making Homemade Sprinkles. I LOVED every second of making these mint pillows.

I made these Butter Mint Pillows for a holiday party and they were a hit. My family could not believe they were homemade and how creamy they were. I even had family who said they didn't care for butter mints but then gobbled up these mints with absolute delight! Exactly what a baker wants to see + hear!

These are a great holiday treat. GOOD Butter Mint Pillows should be creamy with a butter-minty flavor that is not overpowering. The outside of the mints should be firm, but the inside should be soft. If you've ever had one that was beyond firm and hard all the way through, then it was old. They also NEED to melt in your mouth and these do exactly that!

The Butter Mint Pillows recipe is made up of salted butter, powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, peppermint extract, and a little food coloring for a more festive holiday appeal!

The instructions for these mints is simple, you beat all the ingredients until the mixture is creamy and smooth. If it seems like the recipe is too dry and there is too much powdered sugar don’t despair. You just need to cream the mixture more. It will become creamy, smooth, and pliable.

You then dust your work surface lightly with powdered sugar, turn out your mint sugar dough onto your work surface and gently knead until the mixture is silky and smooth. It will have a similar consistency to very soft play-dough.

If you are going to add color to your mint dough, now is the time to do it. Add food coloring into your mint dough and knead it in. A little color goes a long way - you only need one small drop to create pastel colors. I divided my dough into three parts, leaving one white, and tinting the other two with AmeriColor Soft Pink and AmeriColor Mint Green.

It is important to keep your mint dough covered, as it will start to dry out rather quickly. I kept mine separated in plastic snack bags.

To cut your Butter Mint Pillows into their adorable pillow shape you’ll need to roll out about ¼ cupfuls of the mint dough into a ½” thick rope using your fingers. Be sure to lightly dust your work surface with powdered sugar to prevent the mixture from sticking. If you are finding you are having a difficult time rolling the mint dough into ropes, try rolling out less at a time.

Once you have your ½” thick rope of mint dough, using a bench scraper {or knife}, cut the rope into ½” – ¾” pillows. Then you just transfer the mints to a baking sheet covered in non-stick foil and lightly dusted with powdered sugar to dry. Repeat the process with the remaining mint dough.

Butter Mint Pillows should air dry at room temperature for 1-2 days until firm enough to handle. I left mine out for 2.5 days. I got busy.

The Butter Mint Pillows process takes a reasonable amount of time, about an hour plus to make the mint dough, roll it out and cut it up. I found that it got easier to roll out into ropes and took less time the more I did it. Once you find your groove you will be pumping Butter Mint Pillows out like a factory. 😉

This recipe makes a reasonable amount of Butter Mint Pillows. I tried to keep my pillows at around ½” – ¾” in length, but I did get a few smaller or larger pillows. Despite this I still got around 375 Butter Mint Pillows; a pretty hefty amount of mints. It’s a good thing these Butter Mint Pillows have a good shelf life.

Your Butter Mint Pillows should be stored in an airtight container. They will last up to 2 weeks at room temperature or up to a month in the refrigerator.

I absolutely loved making these, and enjoyed eating them too! You will too!

Get a head start on your holiday treats and make these melt in your mouth Butter Mint Pillows!