My Enjoy-Mint

Stop me if you've heard this before: I have this compulsion for making more work for myself or something. That's right, I said it last night. Now we are again with my latest putzy project.

C'mon. You know if a friend needs something for a graduation party, you know I'm going to volunteer to provide something. The question to myself was homemade mints or a trifle or both?

Well I started with the one I could now and freeze...

Got the blue roses done after work last night.

And got the white mints done tonight. Yes, they all taste the same. I just can't be so boring I have all the same color. Plus that significantly reduces the putzing and we wouldn't want that.

How do I make them? An old family recipes. Ha. Actually I loved it when my mom would make these when I was a kid. Depending on the special occasion, she used different molds. The rose was a popular one because it pretty much can go with any celebration. I do have molds for a diploma and grad hat, but they are actually smaller and really do take forever.

And honestly the recipe is basically 8 ounces cream cheese mixed with 2 pounds of powdered sugar – yet they're not super sweet, I swear – and whatever extract you want to use. These are with a teaspoon of peppermint (for my enjoy-MINT), but I guess people use lemon flavoring and yellow food coloring sometimes or maybe even almond flavor. Like I said, whatever trips your taste buds.

Anyway, you roll up the "dough" in little balls, dip them in sugar, press into the mold, then pop it out onto some non-stick surface like waxed paper. They have to "dry out" a while so they aren't too soft to pick up. Then you can eat them – well, maybe sneak one or two – or freeze them if you don't need them for another week or so.

So yes, tasty. Yes, putzy. And yes, this graduate is so worth it!