Christmas Coffee

I love fancy coffee drinks, but since I became diabetic, well.....they are pretty much off limits except for the OCCASIONAL "Skinny Vanilla Latte with 2 splendas" that I get from the fancy coffee place ( you know, the one that is CLOSING near my house!) I have to blame my latest craving on one of the girls at work.....Roberta. She brought this delicious peppermint mocha creamer to work and well.....I used a bit of it and it was so good I nearly fainted. Of course, I can't have it very often and because I like it so much, I shouldn't have it here in my own house. I was thinking about buying some this am when I was at the Walmarts ( at 6 am), but they were out of it. I took that as a sign to just make it. I cruised over to the baking and spice aisle, which of course was in utter disarray because they were stocking all the stuff that was gone from Friday night's frenzy. I was looking for peppermint extract...no go on that one either. I did score some Watkins Double X vanilla though. I can always use that.

So, to the candy aisle. I got some of that old- fashioned, soft peppermint ( yes, it has sugar). It is only 11 carbs per stick. That really isn't too bad. I figure it is so low because it is "puffed" and full of air.

So here is what I did:
1. Set up coffee pot to make 4 cups of moderately strong coffee. Don't turn it on yet.
2. Break 1 peppermint stick into three pieces. Put two pieces in the coffee basket with the grounds. I put the other piece and two more sticks into a plastic container with some splenda- gonna see if the splenda will pick up the peppermint flavor like it will vanilla bean.
3. Turn on the coffee pot - let'er drip.
4. Put 1/2 package of sugar-free , carb control, diet hot chocolate in a big cup.
5. Fill cup with the peppermint- flavored coffee.
6. Add a splash of milk ( skim, 2%, whole, half/half, cream, whatever ) until it is the right color.
7. Taste it and if it isn't sweet enough, add some splenda or pink or blue stuff.
8. Sit down and enjoy it. I figure there is less than 15 carbs in it ( 4 for the peppermint, 2 for the milk, 5 for the hot chocolate)

There was enough peppermint flavor in there for me to know it was there, but not so much as to make my glucose all wacky. Of course, if you were having this with people who don't want peppermint, just add the piece of mint to your cup , not the brew basket.

I would bet that sugar-free peppermints would work, but they are pretty hard and might not dissolve so quickly. As it is above, I can have it once in a while.......

Now I am gonna have to make a Paula Deen Peppermint Pie with the rest of the mints!