Christmas Shortbread and Cream Cheese Mints
So I’ve been following this community for months, trying to get the courage to join and post. I’m a bit nervous because I’m certainly no expert. I enjoy baking, but most of what I’ve done is based on mixes. But since I’ve spent what feels like the entirety of December making cookies and candy for gifts, I thought I’d share.
I’ve baked like 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies from ready-made dough. I will be doing another 10 dozen or so of what I call ‘the good kind’ for gifts for my parents. I’ve made about 120 shortbread cookies, and I spent two afternoons/evenings making candy mints. It’s the last two recipes I thought I’d share.
I’ve loved shortbread for nearly a decade, but I didn’t start baking it myself until about 5 years ago. I prefer the ‘Scottish’ style where it is a bit crispy on the outside, and very crumbly. I’ve played with my recipe in almost any way imaginable. I’ve tried different flavorings, different sugars, and even different baking methods.
Here is the basic recipe I use:
2-3 cups flour*
1 cup unsalted butter,** softened
½ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt to taste
1 tsp Vanilla (or your favorite) Extract
Raw or colored sugar to top cookies (optional)
Cream butter and sugar until they appear light and fluffy.
Add in the salt and any flavoring you wish to use, and beat until combined.
Gradually add in flour until the dough reaches the desired texture.
Roll out dough, or press into shortbread molds, and line cookies on parchment paper.
Top with sugars as desired.
Chill covered with cling wrap, or on parchment paper layers in a ziplock (to keep out fridge smells) for AT LEAST 20 minutes. You can keep them chilled for up to a week, or in the freezer for a month or two.
Bake at no higher than 325 for about 30 minutes or so. You can bake at 350 for 20 minutes if you like them to be a bit browned on top.
*After 2 cups of flour, the more you add the crumblier the dough. I usually use 2 ½ cups because I like it a bit crumbly, but I roll mine out and use cookie cutters. If you are going to use molds or a ‘shortbread pan’ you can go up to 3 cups if you like.
**I always give the recipe out using unsalted butter because I don’t know how much salt people like. I actually use Land O’Lakes salted butter and just omit the salt, as it seems to get the ratio just right for my preferences.
Now for the altered version: I use the same recipe as above, but I add/replace a few things to get the best Pecan Sandies. Instead of using granulated sugar, sub in an equal amount of brown sugar (light or dark, depending on your taste preferences). I also mix in about a ¼ cup chopped pecans, toasted and cooled. I roll them out and use just a light pinch of raw sugar to top them. They are so much better than what I can get in the store around here.
These are something that I haven’t made, or at least not that I remember, since I was very young. My grandmother used to make all kinds of Christmas candy; seriously her entire spare bedroom was piled up with beer flats lined with waxed paper layers and filled with chocolate dipped everything, cornflake candy, haystacks, and these cream cheese mints.
This time around I enlisted my mother to help (partly because it was her idea, and partly because she wanted sooo many that my arm would have fallen off otherwise). The trick with this is to make small batches. We each did a half batch at a time so that we could get the dough used before it set up. We used paper bowls to make things easier, and I found some medicine cups in the utility drawer that we used to prepare the flavoring/coloring. We used a variety of flavors to start with, and there are several more I’d love to try in the future. You will want a silicone spatula to mix this (unless you enjoy dying your hands with food coloring), as well as a fork (a knife is also quite useful to help scrape off the spatula). You can also use flexible candy molds to shape them if you want, but we couldn’t find any on short notice.
This is the full size recipe, and should be done in a medium to large mixing bowl (assuming you want only one flavor/color).
4oz of Cream Cheese, Softened for about an hour (about ½ a standard box/slab)
3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted or stirred to break up clumps
½ tsp Pure Mint Extract (we used a combo extract, but you could use all Peppermint or all Spearmint if you want)
About 6 drops food coloring (I used liquid, and would recommend this)
Granulated sugar to roll mints in
Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar (I mostly folded in the powdered sugar, though you could cream it in with a fork -it’s not delicate, just messy).
In a separate container combine mint and food coloring, and swirl to mix thoroughly.
Blend in the now colored extract to your dough
Pinch off some dough (go by however big you want need, there is no need to be precise) and roll into a ball.
Roll the ball in granulated sugar and set on clean parchment or waxed paper.
Once all the dough is finished lightly press your fork into the dough balls to score them. Alternately you could press a piece of candy (M&M or red hot possibly) or just use your thumb. They should be left to dry for at least 24 hours. After that time you can let them stay out in a candy dish, or keep them in an airtight container in the fridge.
As I said above, we were each working with a half recipe because we wanted to try several different extracts. We wound up with lots of mint, but also orange, lemon, and raspberry. If you are using anything other than mint extracts feel free to double the amount of extract for a more intense flavor. I really liked the taste the double orange had over our first batch. But, it is important not to use even a drop more mint than called for, because it will start to taste like toothpaste if you aren’t careful.
We also used liquid food coloring because all of the extracts we used were clear, which would make it hard to tell if it had been evenly mixed in. By adding the food coloring to the extract we could tell if it needed more mixing. I also preferred to use powdered sugar to roll the dough in when shaping it (like you would use flour for some cookies). I found that helped keep the dough from sticking to my hands so much; my mother on the other hand preferred to dust her hands with the powdered sugar as needed.
If you want pretty shapes, flexible molds would likely work great, but the dough is soft enough that you could probably put it in a piping bag and use a decorating tip to get some shapes. My mother and I both have arthritis and so squeezing a piping bag was out of the question for us, but I imagine it would look pretty.