Cream Cheese Mints ~ from Scratch!

If I had known these were going to be this easy to make, I would been making them years ago! Brad absolutely loves them! When I mentioned I was going to make them, he was pretty happy about it. They were easy, they turned out great, AND mint actually helps you feel less full, so your guests will appreciate them as well!

Cream Cheese Mints

Ingredients:

• 1, 3 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp. pure peppermint or mint extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• optional - food coloring
• optional - rainbow-colored sugar crystals

Directions:

1. Line baking sheets with waxed paper.  I use jelly roll-size pans.
2. In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer beat together softened cream cheese and peppermint extract.
3. *Note: While creaming the cream cheese is the ideal time to add food coloring to dye the dough.
4. Add powdered sugar gradually and beat until smooth, kneading in the last of the powdered sugar with hands or a heavy spoon. 
5. Lightly dust the wax paper-lined baking sheets with sifted powdered sugar.  
6. Using a 1/2-teaspoon measuring spoon, form mixture into balls the size of a cherry.
7. Place two rows of dough balls 1/2-inch or so apart, then flatten with a pretty stamp or a fork, like I do.  If you'll lay out a couple rows first, by the time you're ready to roll out the third row, the tops of the dough balls are dry enough to flatten easily without having to dip and re-dip the fork in powdered sugar.