Homemade Junior Mints Recipe

Melissa King Healthy Chocolate and Candy, Recipes

I made you Homemade Junior Mints!  Junior Mints are a childhood favorite for many people.  If you are not familiar with Junior Mints, they have a minty soft center covered by chocolate.  Junior Mints have always been my husband’s favorite candy, so I set out to make a clean recipe for them.  Here is the ingredient list for Junior Mints that I found at Ask.com:

“Sugar, semi sweet chocolate, corn syrup, modified food starch, confectioner’s glaze, invertase, soya albumin and gelatin.” 
Okay, I don’t even have a clue why they need so many ingredients.  Especially weird ones like invertase?  What the heck is that??  I am proud to say my Homemade Junior Mints only contain simple ingredients!
Homemade Junior Mints - My Whole Food Life 1
I am happy to say that these homemade junior mints are vegan, gluten free and paleo approved.  If you are not a coconut fan, don’t worry.  You seriously can’t taste the coconut flavor in this recipe.  All I taste is the chocolate and the peppermint.
The coconut butter in this recipe gives these homemade junior mints the perfect texture.  If you like homemade candy recipes you should also check out these clean eating peanut butter cups and my coconut almond fudge.

Homemade Junior Mints

Homemade Junior Mints

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Prep Time 20 min Serves 10-12 mints     adjust servings

A cleaner version of the store bought classic.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In a food processor , combine the coconut butter and peppermint.
  2. Scoop out little balls and set them on a parchment lined plate. I used a melon baller to form the balls.
  3. Stick the balls in the freezer.
  4. Once the balls are frozen, prepare the chocolate.
  5. Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate and milk.
  6. Once melted, take each frozen ball and cover it in chocolate. I used two forks for this.
  7. You need to work quickly so the warm chocolate doesn't melt the coconut balls.
  8. Once all the balls are covered in chocolate, stick them in the fridge to firm up.

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Recipe Notes

If you want to add a sweetener to this, you can add 1-2 tsp of maple syrup or honey. Add the sweetener when you are mixing the coconut butter and peppermint.

These homemade junior mints should be stored in the fridge or freezer. They should last for a couple weeks in the fridge and even longer in the freezer.

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36 thoughts to “Homemade Junior Mints Recipe”

  1. Oh my gosh, I saw this on the home page while looking up another recipe and I'm soon excited! Just need to find out where I can buy the coconut manna!
    Reply
    1. Hahaha! Yes it is scheduled to hit everyone's emails in the morning. You got a sneak peak. :) You can find the manna at all health food stores near the nut butters. You can also make your own coconut butter easily. https://mywholefoodlife.com/2013/07/08/homemade-coconut-butter/
      Reply
  2. So I just made the coconut butter in my nutribullet and it took about 5 min... Woohoo! Now I'm going to make these! I'll let you know how they turn out!
    Reply
  3. Hi, I have been following your recipes and site for the past few months (and even commented at times) and I think your recipes are awesome ( though you and I will probably agree to disagree on our stance when it comes to GMOs) :) i just wanted to tell you ( and your readers) that if there is an Indian/Pakistani store in the neighborhood you can probably get dried beans, healthy rice, coconut oil, coconut powder, or coconut milk etc. for much cheaper than Whole Foods or any health store...especially if you are on a budget. Thank you for sharing your amazing, and creative recipes. :)
    Reply
    1. Thanks for the tip Maya! I totally agree with that. My mother-in-law in Turkish and she gets a lot of our spices, olive oil and tahini at the Middle Eastern market. Way cheaper is right. :)
      Reply
  4. This looks so fun and delicious! I've made something similar, but instead of making them into cute little drops I just mixed it all together in a tiny cup to eat like fudge (I was having a desperate craving ...). I like this much better. It's neat, it's cute, and it's share-able. Thanks for another great recipe!
    Reply
  5. I made the coconut butter but I think it got too runny for the recipe so I stuck it in the freezer hope it will harden it up some.
    Reply
  7. I have a question - can you use milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate?? I do love peppermint patties yet Ive always wanted to have them with milk chocolate instead. Also, does the coconut butter have to be used?? Can it be regular butter??? And is it ok to double the recipe at once or better to do seperately - 10-12 is NOT gonna stay in this house but an hour!!!
    Reply
    1. Milk chocolate is fine. I'm not sure if regular butter could work, but if you try it, please let me know! If you you use regular butter, I would add some sugar to it too. Doubling the batch should work.
      Reply
  9. Hello - I'm looking for some high calorie recipes to put in my (picky!) kindergartener's lunch. She's a tubie too, and just in her first week at school, I am noticing that she's not even eating things that I would expect her to eat (too many distractions!). Do you think these would make it to lunch (unrefrigerated but not hot) without melting? Thank you!
    Reply
    1. My almost 5 year old eats like a bird too. They might if you placed an ice pack in the lunch box. I am not 100% sure though.
      Reply
      1. I just made this in the chocolate seems to thick, wondering if anybody else have this problem? I'm going to try adding a little more almond milk and maybe letting one of the coconut balls melt in the chocolate.
        Reply
        1. Did you use room temp chocolate and cold almond milk? That can cause problems with the tempering of the chocolate. I always use cold chocolate and cold almond milk.
          Reply
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  11. This sounds awesome. I'm wondering if you know what I could replace for the Almond Milk as I am allergic to Almonds. Could I use another milk and add Imitation Almond extract, if so, what would you suggest. I Love the flavor of Almond but 5 yrs ago learned I was allergic.
    Reply
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  15. FYI, Invertase is an enzyme that's derived from yeast. It converts the sucrose in candy recipes into "invert sugar". The most common candy that uses Invertase is a Cherry Cordial (a.k.a. Chocolate Covered Cherry). The clear liquid syrup wasn't there when the cherries were dipped in chocolate. It was a white sugary candy with invertase in the mix. Over the course of about 14 days, the sugar is broken down into the syrup we all are familiar with in Cherry Cordials. Junior Mints have a similar liquid type center, although not clear. It includes egg white and peppermint in the mix so it remains more solid than the syrup in a cordial, although it is much softer and gooier than the peppermint filling in a York's Peppermint Patty which is almost solid.
    Reply
  16. I made these tonight but I doubled the amount of mint and I still don't think it was enough for me. I don't care for the taste of coconut butter. I also added a teaspoon of pure organic maple syrup. For the chocolate, I melted dark chocolate and mint dark chocolate together and I didn't use any milk. (did I mention that I love mint) ;) I love your blog and I look forward to making all your recipes. Thank you!!!
    Reply
      1. I used flavorganics. I found it at our small local food store. I will try simply organic next time! I can always find uses for mint extract
        Reply
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