You’re going to love this Easy Christmas Peppermint Patties recipe! Super easy to make, fantastically festive, and always a hit with kids and adults alike. These holiday treats are the perfect addition to cookie trays and make an excellent gift for teachers and friends!
Looking for more quick and easy Christmas treats? Try this Christmas Bark, Christmas Crack and Snow Day Snack Mix!
Can you believe we are 12 DAYS from Christmas? I know this for a fact because the boys like to ask me hourly…. I never forget what day it is during the month of December 🙂 The house is finally all decked out and I’m debating whether to put the boxes up in the garage OR just leave them on the floor in the garage since I’ll be putting everything back up in 13 days.
Yikes! That was depressing 🙁 No, we’ll keep all the decorations up for at least week after Christmas 🙂
Well we are finally getting around to planning this year’s cookie trays and teacher’s gifts and I’m sure you are too. I have the easiest, most delightful recipe to share with you today – Easy Christmas Peppermint Patties.
These patties take no time at all, don’t require any baking, use only a few ingredients and are guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face. Yes, guaranteed. Now for those of you who aren’t peppermint-crazy like I am, consider using a different flavored extract. Cherry for the red is always delicious and I actually made the green ones with mint extract which I find to be perfect for Christmas time.
The dough is made up with just a few ingredients that you knead together with your hands. This is where you add in the extract of your choice. Start with just a couple drops to start and add more as necessary until you reach your desired intensity of flavor. If you want to do three different colors like I did just separate the dough into three balls.. Or four. Or two. Your choice 🙂 Add food coloring of your choice. I find the gel and paste work best. If you only have liquid food coloring you will have to add in more coloring and more powdered sugar so that the dough isn’t super sticky.
Roll into small balls and then roll in the sugar. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and press down with a fork. It’s really that incredibly easy. Keep going…
And going…
Until you are done!
These little candies will be the easiest treats you make all season and your kids will have fun helping AND eating them when they’re ready to go 🙂
More Christmas Treats
- Martha Washington Candies
- Peppermint Fudge
- Buttermilk Pecan Pralines
- Divinity Candy
- Homemade Gumdrops
- M&Ms Marshmallow Dream Bars
How To Make Christmas Peppermint Patties
Easy Christmas Peppermint Patties
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract or mint extract or any other extract you want
- 4 cups powdered sugar divided
- food coloring preferably gel or paste
- ½ cup granulated sugar to roll balls in
Instructions
- Combine butter and corn syrup together in a small bowl.
- Stir in your extract of choice.
- Add 2 cups powdered sugar and mix until well combined.
- Stir in an additional cup of powdered sugar.
- Knead the mixture until the powdered sugar is absorbed and the dough is completely smooth, adding additional powdered sugar if needed.
- Divide dough into three portions.
- Tint one portion red with the red food color/gel and one green. Leave one portion white. If the dough gets sticky, knead in more powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time.
- Shape into 3/4 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.
- Flatten gently with a fork.
- Let candies stand, uncovered, at room temperature for 1 day.
- Store in an airtight container.
Amy@theidearoom.net says
So bright and festive. They look delicious!
Becky says
I just made a batch and my kids don’t want to wait until tomorrow to eat them can I put them in the fridge or anything so they don’t have to wait a whole day before they are done?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
They can eat them now Becky 🙂 They need 24 hours to really dry out and get that slightly crunchy exterior is all.
Suzanne says
Any suggestions for how to package these to look pretty? None of the pictures on the post show closed packages! They’re perfect to give to my daughter’s teachers, but they need to “travel” to school… Thanks!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Sure! I would put them in small canning jars so the recipient can see what’s inside! A cute little tag on top would be a nice addition as well.
Maria- Delicious Designs says
I made my first batch last night and they look adorable and taste great. But after sitting at room temp overnight I put some into a ziploc to bring to my moms and when I got there a half hour later they were all super soft and sticking to one another. They lost that stiffness. What should I do? Constantly keep them in the open air? Otherwise ill have to always coat them in chocolate. Help!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
They really need to set up for a full day and dry out before you can stack them all together Maria. We leave them out all the time and they’re perfect. Hope that helps!
Amy says
These sound delicious, but I don’t eat dairy. Do you think it would work to sub coconut oil for the butter?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
You could definitely try Amy! The consistency is similar at room temperature so it might just work!
Katie says
I tried substituting equal coconut oil for butter and they turned out fabulous!
Becki says
I used Earth Balance vegan butter spread and they turned out fine. Never thought of coconut oil. will have to try that too!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thanks for the feedback Becki! Love trying alternatives!
Marissa says
My family has been making these since I was a little girl. We use cream cheese and powdered sugar only. Mom always flattened them with a fancy bottomed glass dipped in sugar. I roll them into ball. freeze and dip in chocolate. They freeze just fine. I’ve made many different flavors besides mint. Orange is a favorite in our family. You can also press them into small candy molds.
Cheryl douthitt says
Your recipe sounds so good! Could you send it to me? Candy you made with cream cheese and powdered sugar?
Stephanie says
I have been looking for some ideas of what I could make my family for Christmas and post back to them as I live in a different country. These look a really cute idea, and nice and light for posting. Only question is if you know how long they stay nice for? Was thinking to make at the start of December, pack them into airtight containers and ship for opening on Christmas day.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
They stay good for FOREVER. Maybe not forever but seriously, a couple weeks would be fine. Just pack them up nicely. Thanks Stephanie!
Erica says
Hello! I have a question…: if I let them dry at room temperature, are they going to get hard like candy or less, or not at all?
I’m looking for a recipe where they get hard almoust as candies (but not so hard to break a tooth…).
Thank you very much for your answer!!!!!!!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
They won’t ever get hard Erica. They will get crunchier on the outside but they won’t harden. Thanks for stopping by!
Kristen Duke says
I never thought of making peppermint patties but these sound yummy!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Yummy and super easy Kristen! Thanks for stopping by!
Reba says
Super fun and easy to make, but didn’t taste good. It was like eating peppermint-flavoured icing sugar, and after one bite, it was too much.
Rachel says
These tasted like stale taffy. Or like peppermint fondant. If you like the consistency of cookies I would not recommend these.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thanks for your feedback Rachel!
Melanie says
I have a green, runny mess!!!! What am I doing wrong???
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Yikes Melanie! There’s really one one liquid component besides the extract so my guess is that the corn syrup might have been measured incorrectly. Have you tried adding more powdered sugar? It shouldn’t be runny at all 🙁
christy yates says
Made these tonight (triple batch). LOVE them. This will be a regular Christmas treat. My 11 year old son said they look exactly like your picture and they taste awesome! My 2 year old daughter ate too many. 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
You did good Christy! So glad you gave it a try 🙂 Merry Christmas to you too!
Wanda says
Just wondering if you use real butter or “Blue Bonnet” type butter?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I use real butter Wanda 🙂 Have fun!
Esther says
Hi, these are super easy and quick. I’m from South Africa so I substituted confectionery sugar with icing sugar and the syrup with golden syrup and it was fine. The only boo-boo I struck is that the icing sugar packet comes in 500 grams, so I decided that was 2 cups. Of course 250 grams is not the same as 250 milliliters of icing sugar so the first lot was a little crumbly. (on my side of the world 250ml = 1 cup)
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I love how you got creative Esther and just made it happen! I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you with your substitutions. Thanks so much for stopping by!