What were you forced to do as a kid? Eat your liver and onions? Clean your room? Hug your uncle with the hairy ears? You did what you were told, but probably promised yourself you would never do those things as an adult, right?

My sisters and I made mints for every family wedding, and I hated it. We pressed tiny balls of dough into rubber molds for hours making hundreds of mints for a single event. The oil my mom used was so intense my tiny hands would burn after a couple of hours. Mom insisted they be perfect, and if they weren’t, you made more and had to listen to her bellow. Everyone said they were delicious, but I never ate any. The more you ate, the more you had to make.

I broke my vow this weekend and decided to make them for a friend’s baby shower - a very good friend. I agonized over them with my mother’s same eye for perfection. My husband, always a victim of poor timing, reminded me that they sell mints at the store. And then he tried one. He ate all the imperfect ones only stopping when his teeth began to tingle from too much sugar. Alas, he has taken his own vow to never eat store bought mints again.

Cream Cheese Mints Recipe

3 oz. package cream cheese (room temperature)

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 - 1 tspn. peppermint oil or extract

food coloring (optional)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Combine cream cheese with 1 cup of powdered sugar and peppermint flavoring. Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar until the mixture resembles Play-Doh. Add the food coloring until you have the color you like. Using your hands is the easiest way to mix the dough once it gets stiff, but they may tingle from the peppermint and stain a bit from the coloring - both fade in no time.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Roll dough into a small ball and roll in granulated sugar. Press the ball into the candy mold. The dough should be flush with the flat surface of the mold. It will take a few tries before you get a feel for how big the dough balls should be. Carefully press the mold to release the mint onto the wax paper. Allow mints to dry for an hour. Transfer to a wire rack so the bottoms can dry as well. Store in an airtight container for up to three weeks.