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When I think of Christmas, my thoughts naturally gravitate to the food of the holidays. One of my favorite Christmas treats are candy canes!. As a child I remember being thrilled to find peppermint candy canes hooked neatly over the top of my red felt stocking. Peppermint has always been one of my favorite flavors - and it still is (she says sipping a candy-cane flavored coffee)!

If you enjoy peppermint, make sure to check stores the day after Christmas — you can almost always find forlorn packages of candy canes marked 50-75% off. They last forever - or almost forever — so keep them in your cupboard to enjoy throughout the year. Here are a few of my favorite, SUPER SIMPLE peppermint treats - none of which will blow your calorie budget!

Peppermint Sugar

Flavored sugars are a great way to perk up many common foods and drinks- like puddings, ice cream, oatmeal, Coco Wheats (sorry - I am a kid at heart). Use Peppermint Sugar to sweeten your coffee, or, even better, top your java with a tiny bit of whipped cream and garnish with Peppermint Sugar for an eye-appealing boost of flavor. Same goes with hot cocoa, if that’s your thing.

I often make “cookies” or “brownies” using my very favorite Quest protein bars. Sprinkle a bar with peppermint sugar before baking or use the sugar to embellish your favorite cookies.

Fond Christmas Memory

My absolute favorite Christmas cookies are Candy Cane Cookies. I can’t eat them now because of the gluten free thing, but when I was a child my mom would mix up two batches of dough - one plain and the other tinted pink - and then braid them together to form a candy cane shape. Waaaay more effort than I would ever put into cookie baking! Once cooled, she would glaze the cookies with vanilla icing and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. The original recipe came from the Betty Crocker Cookbook and now can be found on their website. My mom’s cookies had more frosting!

Since I don’t have the energy or attention span of my mom, I gravitate toward quick fixes and easy recipes. Peppermint Sugar is extremely simple to put together. All you need are candy canes (or round peppermints) and sugar - either white or raw turbinado sugar.

The basic recipe is simply:

1 part crushed candy canes to 2 parts sugar.

Even this “recipe” is flexible. Really, how can you go wrong with peppermint and sugar?

Blender Method: Using your hands, break candy canes into a few pieces. Put in blender (either personal size like Magic Bullet or a full-sized blender). Process until no large pieces remain. Add sugar and pulse until mixed.

No Blender Method: Put candy canes into a ziploc freezer bag and seal. Use the flat side of a meat tenderizer mallet or a heavy frypan to whack the peppermints until crushed. Try flipping the bag over a few times to ensure the entire candy cane is crushed. Pour into a bowl and mix with sugar.

In my fantasy world, where I am like a younger Martha Stewart and my kitchen and pantry are filled with delicious foods, stored in matching canisters and amazing decorative containers, I would pour my Peppermint Sugar into a small mason jar, add a cute printed label and tie with a beautiful pink & white, perfectly formed bow. However, that is a fantasy world. In “real life,” I store my Peppermint Sugar in Tupperware or plastic Ziploc containers. I may or may not label with a sharpie and sticky note!

Peppermint Sugar Scrub

Armed with your Peppermint Sugar , you can go a step further and create a deliciously scented homemade sugar scrub and I promise it’s easy peasy!!

Sugar scrubs are amazingly good for the skin as sugar is a natural, gentle exfoliator, and scrubs are wickedly decadent. Sugar scrubs smell good enough to eat and, honestly, you could eat them since they are only made up of natural food-grade ingredients.

Store-bought sugar scrubs are deliciously tempting, but they are also outrageously expensive! I am not a tightwad (usually) but I cannot justify spending $10-$20 for a tiny jar when I can make my own scrub for only pennies.

For a half-cup jar:

Mix 5 tablespoons Peppermint Sugar with 2 tablespoons sweet almond oil (or use coconut or olive oil).

Note on oil choices: Sweet almond oil is very moisturizing and is formulated for use in soap making and cosmetics. It’s also cheap. Coconut oil is more expensive, although it has lots of wonderful qualities. Coconut oil does solidify in cooler weather, so you may discovery your sugar scrub is one large chunk. Simply break off what you need and it will melt under the heat of your bath or shower. If you are using olive oil, be sure it is not the very fragrant extra virgin variety. You want to smell like peppermint, not like a salad!

Variations:

Love sugar scrubs? Double the recipe.
Really love peppermint scent? Add a few drops of peppermint essential oil (not extract) to your scrub.
Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Scrub: Add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder to the recipe. Yum!! If the mixture seems too dry, add a tiny bit more oil.
Prefer plain ‘ol vanilla? Use only sugar and oil - skip the peppermint altogether.

For Gift Giving:

Impress friends and family with your domestic talents by storing the candy cane sugar scrub in a small mason jar (Amazon sells a dozen 4 ounce jars for about $15). Click HERE for my PRINTABLE jar labels!

For a knock-’em-dead-you-are-a-Martha-Steward-clone reaction, try this trick: Mix up a batch of peppermint sugar scrub and then either a batch of the chocolate peppermint scrub, or plain vanilla scrub (see above variation). Then, ALTERNATE LAYERS of your scrubs in a glass jar. A sugar scrub parfait, if you will. See? You rock!

Now for a few more quick ideas….

Peppermint Coffee

This is embarrassingly simple, but sometimes the easiest ideas are shockingly fantastic!

Put one round peppermint (or mini candy cane) in your coffee cup. Fill with brewed coffee. The mint will slowly melt with the heat of your coffee. If you want it to melt faster, simply crush the peppermint before adding coffee. Add sweetener and/or cream/milk as desired. Yum!

For a more festive feel, without adding a ton of calories, top with 2 tablespoons Reddi Whip and a half teaspoon peppermint sugar. This only adds 23 calories but you will feel devilishly indulgent!

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

Same as above. Just add a peppermint (whole or crushed) to your hot chocolate. Or, use a candy cane swizzle stick!Now that I’m craving peppermint, I will leave you with this wish…

Merry Christmas!

Now that you’re a sugar scrub pro, try these sugar scrub recipes: 3 Quest Bar Inspired Sugar Scrubs

Have you ever tried making homemade sugar scrubs before??