Growing up, my family celebrated Easter every year. We were not religious, so the holiday was celebrated traditionally rather than spiritually. The Easter holiday meant egg hunts, family brunches, and lots of candy. I relished the Easter season and all that came with it– warm weather, frilly dresses and bonnets, Easter bunnies and outdoor egg hunts (that’s me, above, in one of my many Easter frocks). Searching for those colorful eggs was thrilling. And of course, the best part was indulging in all of those sweet Easter treats… chocolate bunnies, cakes, brownies, and “peeps.” 🙂
Speaking of sweets, here is one of my favorite family candy recipes. These lovely treats are super easy to make. They’re incredibly creamy, rich and delicious. You can flavor them any way you fancy. Traditionally my family uses peppermint flavoring to make them minty, but I’ve also made them using vanilla butter flavoring, banana, coconut, and lemon. You can flavor each color differently, if you like. I especially love how colorful they are… they remind me of all those delectable Easter treats growing up. What fun!
These candies can be made for lots of different holidays. I like to make them with blue food coloring at Hanukkah and in vibrant color blends (purple, orange) for Purim. They’re a fun gift to bring to a wedding or baby shower, and they’d make a festive addition to any dairy holiday table.
If you’re still keeping kosher for Passover, as I am, and you want to make this treat before the end of the holiday, be sure to check out the Passover note below.
Happy Easter to all of our friends who are celebrating today. Enjoy! 🙂
Recommended Products:
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Cream Cheese Candies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 8 ounces cream cheese (1 package)
- 4-5 cup powdered sugar (see Passover note)
- 1 teaspoon flavoring - peppermint, vanilla butter, lemon, banana, etc.
- Food coloring
NOTES
Instructions
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and stir till softened and partially melted into the butter.
- Turn off the heat. Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar to the pan and stir to form a soft sugary dough. If the dough seems to liquid or loose, slowly add more sugar till it firms up-- it should be firm enough to mold and shape. If making only one flavor, add 1 tsp of flavoring to the dough (or more to taste) and stir well.
- Divide dough into four equal portions. If making more than one flavor, add 1/4 tsp of flavoring (or more to taste) to each separate portion of dough and stir well.
- Color the dough by adding a few drops of food coloring to each portion of dough. For a pastel color, use 2-3 drops of food coloring per portion. For more vibrant color, add more drops.
- Shape the candies into round disks of about 1/2 tbsp each. Score them on top with a fork, if desired.
- Allow to dry on parchment or wax paper for a few hours until the candies set. Store candies in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Horrible recipe. Dough never got hard enough to take shape and I added about 9 cups of powdered sugar. Didnt see a temperature to cook it on. They just melted all over the paper and into my oven. And i know how to follow directions!
Dee – you’re not supposed to bake them, so clearly you didn’t follow the directions. They’re simply allowed to set, they are not baked – of course they dissolved.
I am about to make some with butter flavor. Should be yummy. I made some yesterday using 1/4th cup of cocoa powder in place of 1\4th of the sugar and they turned out well. They only taste like fudge to everyone because I didn’t put any flavoring in it. Next time I will add the mint.
Hi Bonnie No , The strawberries were a cream cheese base. I know what you mean about marzipan, not really a fan. but I’m thinking that if I put strawberry flavoring in,, red food coloring, and shape them into strawberries.It should work.and dip the stem part in green sugar, that could be good
Cheers
When I was younger and attending wedding showers, , there would be these amazing cream cheese confections shaped like strawberries. Do you think that this is the recipe?
Penny,
It sounds like you’re talking about marzipan, an almond paste that’s shaped into fruit shapes.
I have a question about making confectioner’s sugar. Can corn starch be used instead of potato starch?
Bonny Lee– yes.
Remember my poppy would have these candys when we can over.What a nice way to remember him.Cant wait to make them n bring back the memory s.Thanks for sharing
Is the can supposed to be hardened? I think
Not because cream cheese will always be creamy even after refrigerated, the candies are just too good. I found this recipe somewhere else but it came out all creamy, this solved my candy problem!! Anyways, answer me question? Thx!
I’m not sure I understand your question Athena. The candy should be solid, but not hard– it is soft to bite through, but it should hold its shape. I hope that helps!
If the recipe makes 48 or so, divide it by the amount of colors you use.
I got about 60 total candies and only made green.
Does anyone know how many of each color this batch makes?
I was given a recipe that has no butter. Just cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and flavor.
It also said freeze for up to 2 months. Could the butter make the difference?
I have a birthday cake I need to make and I’m wondering if instead of using fondant for the bow if I could shape this into a bow? I really don’t like fondant and would like to try something new.
alyson,
I tried to reply to your question, but I couldn’t get the reply link to work. What I would suggest, for your bow, is either making it out of a chocolate clay (adding corn syrup to melted chocolate), or what I try to do is use a real ribbon on my cakes. I think the real thing always looks better than the imitation. The chocolate clay is very easy to use, and I sculpt roses, leaves, and other decorations with it all the time. For the recipes and instructions on how to make the chocolate clay, refer to a wonderful site (the best I’ve come across) at
http://www.hungryhappenings.com/p/chocolate-making-tips.html#sthash.ObibHzOl.dpuf You can see flowers and other things she’s made that are absolutely gorgeous. Let me know if this helps. (You can use real chocolate, or the candy melts that Wilton makes, if you want a color.)
Made these, but they did not turn out right and are more like a pile of frosting than a candy. Not sure what I did wrong.
Hi Xan, you probably did not add enough powdered sugar. The recipe calls for 4-5 cups, but you can add as much as necessary to make the dough firm enough for handling. Hope this helps!
Might try cinnamon with Christmas coming up. I do like the mint with chocolate idea too.
These look delicious, do you think I can make them ahead and freeze them? (Just thinking about time savers for my daughter’s birthday). Thanks!
Hi Amy, I would not freeze these, but you can refrigerate them for a few days. Enjoy!
HI! Thank you for the recipe! I’m 29 years old and my mom used to make these for me when I was a kid, and I LOVED them. I totally forgot about them until I saw the recipe, and I immediately went and made some in all different colors and flavors, although I think my mom only used to make them peppermint flavored. My husband is in for a surprise when he gets home! Thanks again!
I used to make these for my kids all the time, but with a couple slight differences. First, I didn’t melt the butter which is genius!!! And second, I used koolaid for flavor and color. The kids love them! I think tomorrow I should make a batch to see how easy it is this way.
Can these be frozen? , also if using as a wedding favor are they ok to not be refrigerated?
I do not recommend freezing them, and they do need to be refrigerated.
I wonder if I could use one of the frosting tubes to make shapes, or if it would be too crumbly…