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I first saw a peppermint serving tray idea in an old Southern Living magazine and I loved the festive look of it. What a beautiful foundation for a cheesecake or a holiday dessert, or anything, for that matter. Wouldn’t a neighbor be delighted to receive cookies delivered on a peppermint platter? And you might be surprised at how easy it is to make this festive peppermint plate!
While this peppermint plate looks complicated, it really isn’t.
There is one trick though: you must use a pan with edges to avoid the platter spreading too much and becoming too thin. If it’s too thin, it will break easily under the weight of anything you set on it.
To make the plate, you’ll need lots of unwrapped red or green star mints, parchment paper, and a large cake pan.
Use at least a nine inch cake pan but bigger if you have it.
How to Make a Peppermint Serving Tray
Begin by lining the bottom and the sides of the cake pan with parchment paper. Be sure the parchment paper sticks up enough on the sides so that you can easily grab it to lift the mint tray out when it finishes baking.
Lay the unwrapped mints side by side in the pan, filling it as full as you can.
Bake the mints at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes {watch them carefully and remove the pan from the oven when they melt and join together}.
The heat of the oven will make the candies melt together and spread out but since the pan has edges, the peppermint plate will keep its shape.
Allow the mints to cool and harden for a few minutes and then lift the peppermint plate out by the parchment paper edges.
The peppermint serving tray will be thick enough to carry by itself without fear of breaking and actually isn’t very fragile at all.
Let the peppermint plate cool fully and then use this pretty and festive peppermint serving tray to hold a lovely dessert on Christmas Day or at your annual Christmas party.
Can the cake plate be made ahead and stored?
Yes, but store it in room air. Placing it in the fridge will add moisture and cause it to become sticky and that will likely happen if you place it in a ziploc bag as well.
Someone suggested placing it in a plastic bag and adding a silica gel package, like you’d find in a beef jerky package. That might work well but I haven’t tried it myself.
What can you do with the peppermint plate after you use it?
I disposed of the plate I made but someone suggested placing it in a bag and using a hammer to break it up then serving the pieces over ice cream. You could also use the crushed pieces to add a festive element to a pan of brownies.
Can wax paper be used instead of parchment paper?
No! Wax paper will stick to the candies and won’t peel off well.
How do you avoid the peppermint plate getting sticky?
Whether or not the plate gets sticky depends on the humidity in your environment, how you stored the plate if made ahead of time, how much you’re handling it, and what you served on the plate. I set the peppermint platter on top of a charger which meant it wasn’t getting handled much and I had no problem with stickiness.
For more peppermint themed ideas, be sure to check out this peppermint themed hot cocoa bar …
… and peppermint rimmed cups for hot cocoa.
It turned out beautiful! It will be a festive addition to your table.
So scary! Hope your son gets well really soon! Love your peppermint plate…so clever! Have a very merry Christmas. 🙂
Love it! Pinned it!
Found this through pinterest. Love it. Following.
How funny, I pinned this last week and we are trying it tonight! So sorry about your son, glad to hear he is doing ok.
Merry Christmas,
Alexis
This is so neat,thanks and I hope your son is doing well. Happy Holidays!
So glad this showed up in my Pinterest following window … this is so cute, sounds like an easy christmas craft, must smell delicious, and what a great compliment to a home made food gift. I’m pinning this myself and definitely going to try it. Thanks for the tip about using a pan with sides to prevent too much “spread”. Happy holidays 2012 a bit early 🙂
How cool is that! Yes…Jolly Ranchers would be cool too. This could work w/ a bunch of candies I bet. Butterscotch is another one. Life savers? Thank you so much for stopping by our party! Merry Christmas Randi! …pinning this one!!! 🙂 ~ Julie
Can you mod.podge it to keep from getting sticky
Featuring on my FB page hun…I just love it!! So did my girls!
This looks super cute and I really want to try, just wondering….wouldn’t it be sticky?
Once it cools, it’s not sticky at all. It’s smooth just like a plate. It feels exactly the same as if you rubbed a dry mint … not sticky unless/until it gets damp.
On the moisture issue– what about putting a little packet of silica gels in the container that is holding the melted candy plate? These are used all the time in food ie bags of beef jerky. I think that if you keep the dish in a container with the gel packets it will keep it dry– then pull the dish out when you need to serve your dessert just beforehand so it isn’t all soggy at the buffet table. I think putting the dish in the fridge would create a moisture problem too.
That’s a BRILLIANT idea! I’m definitely going to try it!
I have made one. YES they are very sticky if you handle them at all or use them for food service. If the food has any moisture in it all all the candies with the moisture. Was a mess.
Interesting, Janet. I used mine to serve a cheesecake and didn’t have any issue with stickiness at all.
My sister just showed up at my house with one she made for me. I absolutely adore it, but it is sticky. I was wondering if I put a coat of shellac on it, if that would help. Also is this a one time use item or can it be preserved to use over and over. I can’t imagine it can be cleaned if used for a cheese cake unless it has some sort of protectant on it..
Mine was never sticky so I really think the environment plays into it. Mine was a one use item because after I served cheesecake on it, it couldn’t be washed. It’s worth trying to shellac it if you want to save it {although I have no idea if it’ll work or not} but then it wouldn’t be food safe so you’d need to use parchment between the tray and the food.
Sugar is considered a liquid and the candy is primarily sugar so I am not sure how you would successfully shelac or retain it. Makes a neat liner (kinda a holiday doily if you will). and not much $$.
I combined this idea with an idea someone posted from Pinterest melting down plastic beads to make stained glass looking ornaments – I put the mints in a cupcake pan (3 mints per cup), and melted for 10 minutes at 250 (I wanted them more melted together than you had for the serving tray). Then we coated in a clear coat nail polish to keep from getting sticky when handled, and Krazy glued a ribbon to the back for handmade “Orna-mints” 🙂 There was no need for wax paper or anything in the cupcake pan – if I let them cool completely they just popped right out.
Such a fun idea! And great to know that the nailpolish helps to keep it from getting sticky if you’re using it for a non-food purpose. Thanks for sharing!
My moms birthday is Christmas Day and always make her a cake. I wanted to do this to serve the cake on. Came our GREAT but was wondering if anyone has had luck getting all the wax paper off? I tried it like described and then again with a coat of nonstick spray. The one I sprayed came of better but was still now easy to remove.
I have a feeling the wax paper melted onto a bit and you may not be able to get it all off. I used parchment paper … that won’t melt and just peels right off. You can buy it at any grocery store.
THANKS for the tip on the parchment paper! Will give it a try.
i have made these several times, used parchment paper, had no issue at all getting it off but I waited until it had cooled a bit. I also have never had the “sticky” issue so don’t know what that’s about. I made them a few days before my party and just left them on the counter. No problem. I used them as cookie plates for my children’s teacher gifts and mounded them with peanut butter balls for the party then just threw them out. They are adorable.
Jolly ranchers and other candy doesn’t melt properly or harden once you heat it. Only star lights work
That’s great to know … I haven’t tried it with jolly ranchers but wanted to. Thanks for the information!
Can I put a cake on it with homemade frosting?
Sure!
I must be reading the instructions wrong or something but it say to “lay UNWRAPPED mints side by side”. I have read and re-read to make sure I didn’t miss something… Why UNWRAPPED?
Duh, after I posted this I realized what I said…of course unwrapped. It’s early and I haven’t had my coffee yet! ?
I figured you’d figure it out quickly … we all need our morning coffee! 🙂
As this is a one use item could the plate be broken up and eaten after use?
Definitely. You would probably need to put it inside a big ziploc and hit it with a hammer but you could use the pieces over ice cream sundaes!