Candy Cane Infused Vodka Hot Chocolate

I recently made some candy cane infused vodka to put into hot chocolate, here’s what worked for me…

My Ingredients

• ml of vodka (I used Smirnoff)
• candy canes (I got some “Pure Fun” organic ones from Whole Foods)
• Hot chocolate mix (whatever generic stuff they had at Whole Foods)
• Hot water (or milk)
• Whipped cream `

Preparing the vodka

Put the candy canes into a mason jar, break them up if necessary. I bought one of those glass jars with the metal clasps from Ikea. Add the vodka to the jar and seal it shut. The candy canes will take about 3 hours to dissolve completely, and you’ll end up with a slightly yellow but deliciously peppermint tasting vodka. Now you can store the vodka—preferably in a dark, dry place—until you want to use it for the hot chocolate. Can be outside the fridge or in the fridge.

The Hot Chocolate

Prepare a 6 oz hot chocolate with just 5 ozs of water or milk and then add 1 oz of the candy cane vodka. Feel free to change ratios to whatever tastes best for you. If you’re feeling extra decadent add whipped cream on top.

Additional notes

• You’re supposed to sterilize the jar before you put the candy canes and vodka in it, so they don’t taste like something else. I just washed mine thoroughly
• It may be easier to just empty a little bit of vodka out of a bottle and put the candy canes in directly. I didn’t try this, but it seems like it’d work fine.
• Organic candy canes taste better - I tried one of the organic candy canes back-to-back with a regular cheep-o one, and surprisingly the organic one smelled and tasted like a delicious peppermint treat while the cheep-o one smelled a little nasty and didn’t taste as good. I saw some other people talking about bad results with candy cane vodka, and I wonder if the brand of candy canes was the problem. Here’s the the link to the Pure Fun brand candy canes (warning: obnoxious website design).

It’s almost the new year, use up those left over candy canes!