Tuesday, December 23, 2014

How to Turn Candy Canes into Peppermint Syrup and a Tote Bag Giveaway via Cleo Coyle



Got extra candy canes? Then you can make this excellent pink peppermint syrup. It's delicious stirred into hot cocoa, coffee, and tea; drizzled over ice cream, cookies, and cupcakes; and splashed into Christmas cocktails. 

And speaking of Christmas, as a little Christmas gift to you this week, I'm giving away a Coffeehouse Mystery tote bag and autographed copies of my latest release Once Upon a Grind, now a bestselling hardcover from Penguin. More on the giveaway at the very end of this post...



Cleo Coyle has a partner in 
crime-writing—her husband.
Learn about their books
by clicking here or here.

Whether you're new to the Coffeehouse Mystery series or have been reading them since the first book was published (circa 2003), my husband and I extend our sincerest thanks for supporting our work. 

Enjoy the recipe, everyone, and have a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!

~ Cleo








How to Turn Candy Canes
into Pink Peppermint Syrup

A recipe from...
A Coffeehouse Mystery

Click here to see the 
book's free Recipe Guide.

This sweet potent syrup is 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 use it the way my amateur sleuth (coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi) doesto make delicious Candy Cane Lattes and Cappuccinos. Here's how to put your own leftover candy canes to good use...

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
8 large candy canes, broken up


Directions: Pour the water and sugar into a large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the candy cane pieces to the mix and continue stirring and heating. 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, until
 the mixture begins to thicken up. Test it by coating the back of a spoon (see my photos below). Remove from heat. Allow the syrup to cool in the pan before transferring to a storage jar or plastic bottle. To speed up the cooling process, I pop my plastic squeeze bottle into an ice water bath (or the freezer). Unused syrup should be stored in the refrigerator. When chilled, this peppermint syrup will thicken up quite a bit. To re-use, simply put the squeeze bottle or jar of syrup into a warm water bath or microwave for ten seconds. 




Click here for this
Recipe as a free PDF.
To download this recipe in a free PDF document that you can print, save, or share, click here.













F o o d i e 
p h o t o s










Recipe PDF

Click here for this
Recipe as a free PDF.

Looking for a
Christmas-themed
mystery this week?



If you're looking for a Christmas-themed mystery this week, I can suggest two in my Coffeehouse series: In Holiday Buzz, coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi caters a glittering New York holiday party and finds the murdered body of a young baker's assistant, a crime that she vows to solve. In Holiday Grind a kindly sidewalk Santa is slain, and Clare is on the case, not only to find his killer but rekindle the meaning of Christmas...







May your
holidays be bright!


~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries


Friend me on facebook here. * Follow me on twitter here
Learn about our books here
 

Now a Bestselling
Hardcover!


"Fresh and fun...clever" ~ Booklist
"Charming, vivid, memorable" ~ RT Book Reviews
"Wicked good" ~ Library Journal


Delicious recipes are also featured in my
14th 
culinary mystery, Once Upon a Grind, including...

* Black Forest Brownies * Cappuccino Blondies
* Shrimp Kiev * Dr. Pepper Glazed Chicken
* Silver Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookies
* Fryer Tuck's Ale-Battered Onion Rings
* Poor Man's Caviar * Caramel-Dipped Meltaways

...and many more recipes, including
a guide to reading coffee grinds...


See the book's
Recipe Guide (free PDF)

* * * 

Book and
Tote Bag Giveaway






Enter to win this custom-made Coffeehouse Mystery
tote bag and an autographed copy of Once Upon a Grind
by visiting my Christmas Week guest post at
Mason Canyon's Thoughts in Progress blog.
Simply leave a comment on the post over there,
and you are entered to win!

Click Here to visit.
See you there!

~ Cleo




More Christmas Giveaways!

If you are a subscriber to our Coffeehouse Mystery
newsletter, Marc and I invite you to enter more
holiday giveaways linked in our recently
sent newsletter.

If you are new to us and would like to subscribe
to our n
ewsletter, click hereYou will receive an
auto-reply with 
a link to our most recent editions.
Look inside for more holiday contests.

Thanks and good luck!
~ Cleo



9 comments:

  1. May your days be merry and bright! (The "white" part is optional)
    The season's best to all you you wonderful women.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I went over to the other site to enter but wanted to say thanks here for the giveaway and for this yummy recipe. I have been nibbling at peppermint ice cream this week and this sauce would make it even more delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I never would have thought of doing that. It certainly looks tasty. I like the way it looks on the cocoa and marshmallows. Thanks for the recipe. Merry Christmas

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting recipe
    subscribe to newsletter

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Definitely going to try this recipe. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooohh, another reason to stock up on clearance candy canes!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I ha e so e candy canes. Now I know what to do with them. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Why didn't I ever think of this? Thanks, and Happiest of Holidays to everyone!

    lola777_22 (at) hotmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  9. This looks like a great syrup to try for the season. Can't wait to try it in Hot Chocolate or a special Mocha!

    ReplyDelete