What to do when you are away from your fancy coffee machine and want an
indulgent, seasonal, latte eye-opener? (And what to do with those leftover
holiday Hershey's kisses?!) If you are stuck 25 minutes away from the nearest
Starbucks (definitely not complaining, though!) but growing tired of black
coffee, and have those post-Christmas Hershey kisses, then you're in luck. (For
a peppermint drink, the Hershey candy cane kisses taste closest to anything else
out there anyway for that craving.) I made this from what I already had on-hand
during the holidays, and without an espresso machine.
Since it's so simple, I'll not make you have to read a novel just to get to the
instructions!:
You really only need 3 ingredients (INCLUDING the coffee):
1. 3 Hershey's candy cane kisses (the white ones with the red stripe around
them)
2. Black coffee (I used our Keurig)
3. 1 or 2 regular, milk chocolate, Hershey's kisses (or higher-end chocolate
sauce)
(Optional: half and half, whipped cream)
1. Brew your coffee. Gather your ingredients while your coffee is brewing (start
unwrapping!).
2. Stir in the 3 candy cane kisses and 2 milk chocolate kisses OR the chocolate
sauce (something like Ghirardelli's or
Sanders, but the chocolate kind. The kind
I had out at the lake where I created this out of necessity was good - Sanders).
Yes, they will melt all the way! (as long as the coffee hasn't been sitting
around).
- OR - Use the chocolate sauce in place of milk chocolate kisses. I used under 1
tbsp., and it made it nice and creamy, too. No extra sugar or sweeteners needed
for either method!
3. You're kind of done! Taste it; you may want to add half and half/creamer (I
do when making it with the milk choc. kisses, but find it's super creamy just
using the choc. sauce method). And you may want to spray on a flourish of
whipped cream!
Notes: I LOVE Starbucks peppermint mochas and find this to taste VERY similar.
All the other coffee shop copycats I've paid $5 for over the years that were
meticulously made don't even taste this similar.
You can use any kind of coffee...I found it a good chance to use up some of the
coffees that aren't my favorite. I love dark coffees, so I would use my medium
roasts, since they lend themselves to the mildness of a Starbucks mocha.
