Candy Cane Dust (or Peppermint Powder as it’s called in our house) is the easiest holiday recipe you’ll ever love to make. One ingredient. One step. About fourteen bajillion ways to use it.
As soon as candy canes are available in stores (seems like October these days!), I make a big batch of this Peppermint Candy Cane Dust. We love it and I use it on so many things throughout the season.
Peppermint is to December as Pumpkin is to October so far as I’m concerned. And let me tell you, I loooooove me some seasonal flavors.
My daughter’s favorite way to use Candy Cane Dust is in her hot chocolate, I’m partial to a Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate, and my boys love it in brownies. We like to keep ours in closed mason jars.
It’s important to make sure your container is well sealed otherwise the dust will turn into a candy cane clump. No big deal though, if it gets a little clumpy, just take a fork and stab at it a bit until it’s back to a good consistency.
So Many Uses for Peppermint Candy Cane Dust!
Add to your hot cocoa for peppermint cocoa
Put it in your coffee for peppermint coffee
Stir in vanilla icing to make peppermint vanilla icing and use on your cakes and cookies
Add directly to your cake or cookie batter for peppermint cakes and cookies
Dip your freshly iced cookies (or chocolate dipped pretzels!) in it for a flavor boost
Sprinkle on ice cream or yogurt!
You can use any size or flavor candy cane you want for this recipe. Even pickle! Did you know there were pickle candy canes?! I kid you not!
As a pickle lover, I really want to try them, but I’m worried it will be a waste of money. Maybe I should just stick with our good old fashioned homemade pickles. Haha!
I personally find the smaller candy canes easier to unwrap, so I usually use those. The nice thing too is since candy canes are just sugar and peppermint flavoring, you can buy them on clearance after the holidays.
If you store them in a cool dry place, they’ll be perfect for next year and you’ll have paid almost nothing to get them.
Peppermint Dust Making Tools
How to Make Peppermint Dust
Peppermint Candy Cane Dust
Ingredients
- candy canes
Instructions
- Put candy canes in food processor (or magic bullet) and pulverize!
- Enjoy on EVERYTHING!
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally published 12-16-10
Peppermint Candy Cane Dust, Ingredients:
- candy canes
Peppermint Candy Cane Dust, Directions:
- Put candy canes in food processor (or magic bullet) and pulverize!
- Enjoy on EVERYTHING!
I have been eating it with my spoon. LOL. Yum!
I think I love you for the pulverized candy cane idea!
martinis!
I used a hammer to make mine this Christmas, but a blender would be much easier. I used mine on a gingerbread train that I did with my niece and nephews. I called it candy cane snow.
How do you store it and what is it's approximate shelf life? Can't wait to do this.
Hi! I just refered to your post on my blog, I made Candy Cane Dust (and a Cake with it on top, which will be posted tomorrow), so just wanted to let you know I used your excellent idea!
Thanks for sharing!
http://gabhousewife.blogspot.com/2012/01/candy-cane-dust.html
I don't have a food processor. I am using a hammer but this still seems to leave lots of chunks when all I want is the powder/dust. How is this achieved? Wouldn't a blender need a wet ingredient and if this is the case it wouldn't be dust, it would be a paste, right? Thanks.Mary in KY
I killed a food processor doing this with graham crackers… Am I likely to kill my new food processor? Or, our blender?
if your food processor died doing this with graham crackers, then there was a serious problem with your food processor. even a basic/inexpensive food processor should be able to handle graham crackers or candy canes without difficulty. i've never tried it in a blender, but can't imagine it would be a problem. ice is harder than candy canes…
A couple of years ago, we used a coffee grinder in a pinch to make this… After some extensive discussion on whether the candy was too tough for the blades compared to coffee beans, and an agreement that if we broke dad's coffee grinder, we'd replace it…. all it took was a 3 second whiz..and *poof*.. they were ***pulverized***
How long did Dad's coffee taste like candy canes?!
what a great idea! I wish I still have some candy canes left as I used all of mine to make peppermint chocolate barks.
how do you keep it from getting hard
This sounds like such a great idea, but this question keeps coming up. Is there a problem with this getting hard? What is the best way to store it and what is the approximate shelf life? Can't wait to try it!
shelf life? seriously, people? it's sugar. it lasts forever.
What a fun idea for the holidays! Thanks for sharing.
Love this! Can’t wait to use in hot cocoa and baking!