Homemade Peppermints

Know someone who needs a little love? Encourage your child to make mint candy to share. She can color it pink and shape it into wafers, or with a bit more effort into simple hearts. This recipe will help your preschooler learn to measure and mix and also develop her small motor skills. A fun way to show she cares.

What You Need:

• 2 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
• 4 drops red food coloring
• 3 hard peppermint candies
• Bowl
• Fork and spoon
• Cookie Sheet
• Waxed paper

What You Do:

1. Unwrap peppermint candies and crush them. A mortar and pestle works well.
2. In a large bowl, use a fork to combine the cream cheese, butter, and confectioners sugar. The mixture will look like coarse crumbles.
3. Add peppermint extract and food coloring. Mix with a fork until the food coloring is somewhat distributed. Finish kneading the food coloring and extract in with clean hands. You will end up with a ball of pink dough.
4. Roll this mixture into small balls. Roll some of the balls in crushed peppermint candy. Place them on the cookie sheet. Flatten with the bowl of a spoon.
5. Place other balls onto the cookie sheet without rolling in crushed candy. Flatten these balls slightly with the tines of a fork like you would with peanut butter cookies.
6. Take other balls. Flatten slightly with the spoon, then shape into hearts and place on cookie sheet.
7. Allow candies to dry for 2 hours. Transfer to air tight container and refrigerator until gift giving time arrives.

These little peppermints make the perfect Valentine's Day treat for the class. But if February has already come and gone, they would also be great for a get well gift, or a treat that you can put at each person’s place at a family dinner.