Mint Buttercream Recipes

OLD-FASHIONED BUTTER MINTS

Steps:

• To the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and salt and beat for 1 minute on medium-high speed.
• Add 3 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, milk, peppermint, and beat on medium-low speed until a dough forms. If the dough seems wet, add additional confectioners' sugar until dough combines (I use 3 1/2 cups sugar). The dough will be crumbly but will come together when pinched and squeezed into a ball.
• Taste the batter. If you want a more intense mint flavor, add additional mint extract, to taste (see note below).
• Remove dough from the mixer, separate it into 1 to 4 smaller balls, and add one ball back into the mixer. Add the food coloring of your choice to the ball by squirting the droplets on top of the dough (careful when you turn on the mixer), and paddle on low speed until coloring is well-blended. Coloring will not blend completely into each and every speck of dough if examined extremely closely, but overall, mix until color is uniform. (I separated approximately two-thirds of the dough and made it green using about 15 drops green food coloring and made one-third of the dough red-pink by using about 7 drops red food coloring).
• Wash the mixing bowl and the paddle in between each color change and repeat until all the balls are colored.
• After the dough has been colored, either wrap it with plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator to be rolled out later or roll it immediately.
• To shape the butter mints, place a golf-ball sized amount of dough in your hands and roll dough into long thin cylinders about 1 centimeter wide. Place cylinders on countertop and with a pizza cutter (or knife - be careful of your counter), slice cylinders into bite-sized pieces, approximately 1 centimeter long.
• Store mints in an airtight container in the refrigerator where they will keep for many weeks.

MINT BUTTERCREAM FROSTING WITH DARK CHOCOLATE GLAZE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream 1 1/3 cups sugar with 1/2 cup butter or margarine, and salt. Blend extract, 2 tablespoons milk, and remaining sugar into mixture. Gradually stir remaining milk into frosting until desired spreading consistency is reached.
• Melt and stir unsweetened chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter or margarine together in a microwave, or in a double boiler. Double this glaze if desired.
• Frost cake. Pipe a frosting scallop at the top edge of the cake to keep glaze from dripping down the sides of the cake. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake. Chill until glaze has set.

MINT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin tin with greased liners.
• Combine boiling water and cocoa powder in a small bowl; whisk until smooth. Allow to cool, about 10 minutes.
• Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
• Combine 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar in a large bowl; beat together with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract. Mix in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the cocoa mixture. Fold peppermint candies into the batter.
• Scoop batter into the muffin tin.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cupcakes are firm to the touch or a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan and set on a rack to cool, about 30 minutes.
• Combine shortening and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add peppermint extract. Add confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Beat in milk, a tablespoon at a time, until buttercream is desired consistency. Fold in food coloring a little at a time to reach desired shade of green.
• Transfer buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a round or star tip. Frost each cupcake with buttercream.

HOMEMADE BUTTER MINTS

Steps:

• Taste the candy and add more mint extract if desired; different brands have different strengths, and it's better to start with less flavoring and add more if necessary.

BUTTERCREAM MINTS

Steps:

• Put butter, whipping cream, and salt into a pot and heat almost to a simmer, stirring often.
• Turn off burner.
• Add 3/4 tsp mint or peppermint extract and stir.
• At this point, you can also add the food coloring if you like, and also stir.
• Add 4 cups powdered sugar.
• Stir, then knead until smooth.
• Take small pieces and roll like a rope.
• Cut into bite-size pieces with clean pair of scissors.

MINT BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Whisk together yolks and 1/4 cup sugar with a mixer on high speed until pale and thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring milk, vanilla, and mint leaves just to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Whisk about 1/3 of milk mixture into yolk mixture. Pour yolk mixture back into pan with remaining milk mixture, and whisk to combine. Place over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until custard registers 185 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from heat; strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Set bowl in ice-water bath, and stir until cool.
• Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add chilled custard to butter, and beat until incorporated.
• Heat whites and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water, whisking constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips). Attach bowl to mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Starting on low, and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff peaks form.
• Add egg-white mixture to butter mixture, switch to paddle attachment, and beat on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in peppermint extract. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. (Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth.)

MINT CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MINT BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F (175 degrees C). Prepare (use pan release or baking spray and line with parchment) three 8-inch by 3-inch round cake pans. (If you use a shorted pan it could spill over)
• Whisk together the cocoa and boiling water. Set aside to cool.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder and set aside.
• In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the peppermint.
• Add the dry ingredients alternately with the cocoa mixture. Mix only until combined.
• Divide evenly between the three prepared pans, and tap on the counter to settle.
• Bake for 18 to 22 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.
• Cool cakes on a wire rack.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
• Reduce mixer speed to low, and add the pinch of salt and the confectioner's sugar, about 1 cup at a time, until thoroughly combined.
• Add the peppermint extract and milk and increase speed on mixer to medium. (If frosting seems very dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it reaches desired consistency.)
• Beat for 1 minute on high speed.

BUTTER CREAM MINTS

Steps:

• Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until it is soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and the mint extract and beat at low speed until the mixture is thick, creamy, and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Cut 2 large sheets of plastic wrap and place on your work surface. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions and place each on the plastic sheets. Roll the mixture into the plastic wrap, forming it into logs about 1/2-inch in diameter. Wrap the plastic wrap securely around the logs and chill for 4 hours.
• Pinch off about a rounded teaspoon of the butter cream and shape into 1-inch balls. Place the balls on parchment or waxed paper and flatten with the tines of a fork. Refrigerate in layers of parchment paper in an airtight container until ready to serve. Mints will keep for up to 1 week.