Peppermint Mochas Make My Day

I love a good peppermint mocha during the cold midwest winter months. However, if you've ever dared to investigate the fat and sugar (aka high fructose corn syrup) content of your favorite coffee restaurants, you likely found yourself feeling guilty and/or grossed out. This is why I have been experimenting with a cheaper, healthier way to get my coffee fix. Prompted by my wise friends I recently tried making peppermint and chocolate syrup from scratch. It turned out to be fabulously easy and the results left me with my ideal peppermint mocha recipe. So here it is per the request of the Cotton Babies Staff...

Peppermint Mocha

For a single cup:
3/4 c. strong coffee-I use Kaldi's Espresso 700 ground coarse for my French Press
1 T. homemade peppermint syrup (recipe below)
1 T. homemade chocolate syrup (recipe below)
1/8 c. coconut milk

To fill a full size Sigg thermos:
2 1/4 c. strong coffee-I use Kaldi's Espresso 700 ground coarse for my French Press
3 T. homemade peppermint syrup (recipe below)
3 T. homemade chocolate syrup (recipe below)
6 T. coconut milk

Stir all ingredients together or for a lovely frothy foam, blend all ingredients for 1 minute in a blender (at my house "blender" means Vitamix, but that's another blog post).


Peppermint Syrup

2 c. sugar
2 c. water
2 tsp. peppermint extract

In a medium saucepan stir water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add peppermint extract and let simmer for 30 min. Let cool and store in a sterilized container in the refrigerator. Yields 2 cups.


Chocolate Syrup

1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 c. water
2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan stir cocoa powder and water over medium heat until cocoa is dissolved. Stir in sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute while stirring. Add salt and vanilla extract. Let cool and store in a sterilized container in the refrigerator. Yields 2 cups.