Got Candy Canes? Make Cleo Coyle's Peppermint Syrup!

This sweet, potent syrup is featured in Cleo Coyle’s New York Times bestselling culinary mystery HOLIDAY BUZZ. It’s delicious licked right off the spoon, but you may want to serve it over ice cream, drizzle it over sugar cookies, stir it into hot chocolate or tea, or use it the way Cleo’s amateur sleuth does—to make delicious Candy Cane Lattes and Cappuccinos in her beautiful landmark coffeehouse.

Here's how to put your own leftover candy canes to good use...

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
8 large candy canes, broken up

Directions: Pour the water into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add the candy cane pieces and continue stirring. When the candy canes begin to melt, the mix will turn a milky pink. Keep cooking and stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil and continue stirring for 3–4 minutes. Test the syrup for doneness by coating the back of a spoon. As the syrup drips off, it should have the consistency of honey. If it does not, continue cooking. Allow the finished syrup to cool in the pan before transferring to a storage jar or plastic squeeze bottle. Store the syrup in your refrigerator. When chilled, the syrup will thicken up quite a bit. To make it pourable again, microwave the bottle or jar for ten seconds or place it in a warm water bath.

This recipe was featured in Cleo’s new Coffeehouse Mystery HOLIDAY BUZZ. See more recipes from the book by clicking here.

See step-by-step photos of this recipe at Cleo’s blog.