What are buttermints?
Buttermints remind me of Andes mints with their creamy texture and minty flavor. They make the perfect after-dinner morsel but I reach for them as a quick snack. Buttermints stop sugar cravings instantly because they taste like candy but deliver satiating and healthful fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. As I joyfully declare to all those who will listen, Saturated fat doesn’t make you fat, it makes you full and healthy so you don’t eat junk food!
I started experimenting with these Buttermints after I discovered Shaye’s brilliant recipe for Butter Buttons at her beautiful blog, The Elliot Homestead. My recipe is wholly inspired by hers, I just changed up the flavor with peppermint, adjusted the sweetener, and added some optional coconut oil.
I’m always looking for a way to get more butter and coconut oil in my diet. After all, butter is a nutrient-dense superfood and coconut oil is a powerful fat-burning metabolism-booster. What a wonderful serendipity that something so good for you tastes so delicious!
How do buttermints stop sugar cravings?
A few weeks ago, I explained the miraculous effect of these Buttermints to my mom, a dietary-fat-phobic in the early stages of recovery. I attempted to warm her up to these buttermints by explaining how they stop sugar cravings:
“It’s amazing, Mom. You just have some of these buttermints, 3 or 4 of them, and they taste delicious and satisfy your sweet tooth. And then, it’s like you eat it… and then you are really full. You just don’t want more food” I explained, in awestruck reverence of this miraculous food.
“Isn’t that how any food works?” she asked, skeptically.
“Nope, not every food! You know that when you have lettuce with low-fat dressing for dinner, you are hungry for cereal or ice cream just 30 minutes later. That’s because fat fills you up. The healthy saturated fats in these buttermints don’t make you fat. As a matter of fact, it supports weight loss by because it provides profound satiation and energy in relation to the amount of calories.”
“Can I make these sugar free?”
I’m frequently asked if this recipe can be made sugar-free. Well, technically you can… but I would disown your mutilated variation of Buttermints. You see, I have some, ahem, *issues* with the so-called “healthy sugar free” sweeteners on the market. For example, I broke up with stevia. And extremely processed sugar alcohols, including erythritol and xylitol, ferment in the gut, feeding bad bacteria and often cause gas, bloating, and belching.
Additionally, the raw honey plays an important role in satiating the sugar cravings. I promise, if you try making a batch with stevia an and another batch with the raw honey, you’ll find that you feel more satisfied with the honey batch. It’s all about making a little bit of unrefined sugar go a long way!
When it comes to enjoying natural sources of sugar, like the raw honey in the recipe, it’s all about blood sugar balance. The copious amounts of healthful fats in the Buttermints slow down the absorption of the sugar so you enjoy sustained, even blood sugar.
Try it to believe it!
If you are skeptical of these fabulously satiating buttermints, you’ll just have to try them for yourself. To stop sugar cravings within 10 minutes, savor a few of buttermints. I recommend having these on-hand for after meals or as a snack between meals. If you are resisting a mid-morning doughnut, just pop 4-6 buttermints instead.
Get a free jar of raw honey
Thrive Market is my favorite online health food store, and I’ve taken advantage of the steep discounts and the occasional free products they offer members. I can pass on one of those freebies to you today: Thrive is offering a FREE jar of raw honey, with orders over $50 here.
Like Costco, Thrive offers wholesale prices to their members, and this gift is available to both new and returning members. Membership starts with a month-long free trial. The membership fee is worth every penny – I saved so much on my first Thrive order that it canceled out the cost of my yearly membership.
Click here to get your free raw honey at Thrive.
- 1 cup butter, organic pasture butter is the healthiest! (Ghee will not work as a substitute for the butter, because it will not emulsify with the honey)
- ⅛ - ¼ tsp. peppermint extract
- 3 Tbs. raw honey
- Small pinch of unrefined salt
- Optional: 2 Tbs. cocoa powder for a chocolate version (a reader's suggestion)
- ½ cup butter (pasture butter is best!)
- ½ cup coconut oil (it should be solid, not liquid)
- 3 Tbs. raw honey
- ⅛ - ¼ tsp. peppermint extract, available here (taste and adjust amount as necessary)
- ½ cup coconut butter, available here
- ½ cup coconut oil, liquified
- 3 Tbs. raw honey
- ¼ tsp. peppermint extract
- Have the butter at room temperature. Stir together all ingredients and add more peppermint extract to taste, if desired.
- Scoop mixture into a disposable pastry bag or zip-top bag. You can use a metal pastry tip like I did, I just stuck the metal tip into the end of a zip-top bag and then cut off a corner of the bag (see picture above). If you don't want to use a tip, just snip of the corner of the bag.
- Squeeze bite-sized buttons onto a baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper. Place in the fridge until firm, about 2 hours, then transfer to a storage container and store in the fridge.
- This variation includes both butter and coconut oil. Because the coconut oil is softer than butter, it will be too soft to pipe through a pastry bag. Instead, mix together all ingredients and then spread in an even layer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The mixture will be thick enough to spread evenly and stay put.
- Place in the fridge until firm, about 2 hours, then cut into little squares and transfer to a storage container. Store in the fridge.
- Make sure the coconut butter is at room temperature - it should be stirable. If it is solid, place the jar in a saucepan of hot water and stir until it is liquid.
- Combine all ingredients. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet as described in the coconut oil + butter version above. Alternatively, use a spoon to drop small dollops of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill until solid.
Learnt a lot from this post! Cheers 🙂
can we use maple syrup instead of honey?
I don’t see why not; I will try that
Hi I have three questions that I hope can be answered in a timely fashion.
How long will these last in the fridge?
Can you cut the recipe in half to make a smaller quantity?
Can you use any flavor extract?
Is there a vegan version without coconut products? I’m so tired of coconut oil!
What if I’m aip coconut-free? Would I be able to use something like a cup of palm shortening in place of both butter and oil?
I tried the cacao version and poured the mixture in small fluted chocolate molds. Perfect size and the presentation looks great if you want to jazz up the appearance.
Can one use peppermint oil instead of extract?