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.
Jean says
I read all the comments and then made another batch of peppermint candy’s and they turned out great. I think the problem with peoples candy being crumbly is that they have misunderstood the amount of powdered sugar to use. The ingredient says 3-4 cups and that is the mis-understanding. You only mix in 3 cups of powdered sugar and the 4th cup is just to add what you might need from it to make it smooth and hold together, by no means do you dump the whole 4th cup in. If I do not color my patties, but choose to dip them in choc later, I only need 3 cups plus 1 rounded tablespoon, plus 1 level teaspoon of powdered sugar for my mix. If I do color my patties, I use 4-5 drops of liquid coloring and just a little more powdered sugar. This receipt adjusts for what your doing and you have to adjust with it.
Crystal says
Thanks for the recipe, I just finished them now 🙂 I made them and divided them into 4 portions with mint, lemon, rum, and almond extracts. The mint and the lemon turned out the best.My rum extract was rather strong, I might threw those ones out. But otherwise, very easy (kids could do it) and yummy!
Daniela says
Made these tonight for my daughter’s teachers for a Christmas gift! They came out great! I made some peppermint ones and also some cherry flavored with a chocolate drizzle! Thanks for the recipe!
Jess says
So Im assuming UNSALTED butter then…. or what’s the word on that
Becky says
I used unsalted butter on these and they turned out beautifully, though most of my baking I use the same. Good luck! 🙂
Desiree says
Do these harden? What is the texture like? They kind of look like the inside of a York pattie.
Brenda says
My mom always made these every Christmas for us, loved them. I have made the many times myself. This year I tried something different. Instead of rolling them into balls and pushing them down with fork. I laid parchment paper on my cookie sheet and rolled the mix onto the sheet to about 1/8 thick. I then melted a bag of Mint chips (chocolate chips) and poured over top, let dry and cut into squares. Now I have peppermint patties …. Just wonderful
Michelle says
When I rolled mine they were still sticky. Thill they harden waiting over night or be sticky. Thinking I messed up. No matter how much powdered sugar I added they were sticky. Help
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Is it really humid where you’re at Michelle? Or maybe you put in regular food coloring instead of gel? Those would both add moisture and require additional powdered sugar.
Kaelin says
I was so excited about this one, but I was so disappointed by it. Definitely not enough powdered sugar, I had to add at least 5 cups, and then I lost count. Mostly just tasted like mint frosting inside of peppermint patties.
Brittany says
If I made different flavors and stored them together, would the flavors mix?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Nope! I would separate the layers with parchment or waxed paper and you should be good to go Brittany.
Anna says
Hey these look great and fun to make with kids but I was just wondering, are these hard like candy or do they stay sort of soft.
Amanda Lee says
Trish, I wanted to let you know that most of the content of this post has been collaged and is posted on another blog. This other blog takes tutorials from other sites and collages the images to create a visual tutorial. While they do provide a link, there is rarely an attribution, and rarely a reason for a reader to click over to the content owner’s site, since most of the info is available as a visual tutorial. http://diyallthings.blogspot.com/2014/12/easy-christmas-peppermint-patties.html
I found this when I was investigating content stolen from my own blog.
~Amanda
hattie carter says
thank you so much for sharing. they were very simple to make 🙂 just got done making red cherry 1’s, since my daughter & i dont like peppermint. then i made green spearmint 1’s. i just divided it b 4 adding the flavor & color. i will b making these again!! merry christmas!!!
Alisha says
Made these a couple of days ago! LOVE the peppermint! I decided to dip them in chocolate and they turned out AWESOME!
Suzanne says
I have made a recipe similar to this one for many years. Yours looks easier though– I may give it a try for Christmas 🙂 Peppermint is wonderful in this, but I love cinnamon, lemon, or orange flavors, too.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
My favorites are lemon and cherry – fantastic!
Sare says
I’m planning on trying maraschino cherry juice for the red ones as it will give both colour and flavour – I know I will end up having to use a lot more powdered sugar in the red ones, but other than that, I’m assuming it should be okay? What do you think?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I think you’ll be good. I’ve been wanting to do that FOREVER. Let me know how it turns out!
Christin says
Do they HAVE to sit out for a day? We have a cat I don’t trust to stay off the counters at night when we’re sleeping and I don’t want cat fur in them lol. Oh and instead of leaving some white I dipped them in chocolate candy melts. 🙂
jackie gammill says
I don’t think they have to necessarily be out but just at room temperature.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
That makes sense Jackie!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
They don’t have to but it helps the exterior form a crust, kind of 🙂 It’s definitely not mission critical.