Cocktail Hour: Hot Peppermint Patty

With the weather outside still frightful, I'm determined to stay indoors swaddled in blankets like a little old lady as long as I can, or at the very least until my toes thaw out and the sun's a bit brighter. But whilst I'm under self-imposed house arrest, I need a beverage to both warm my cockles and keep my sugar levels topped up whilst I'm barricaded in against the snow.

Ever since the wondrous Alex English from The Princess and the Recipe shared her hot chocolate cocktail with us in December, I've been desperate to try more hot chocolate-based boozy beverages. Since I gorged my way through a ridiculous, sickly amount of Christmas chocolates, I now need another way to sate my sweet cravings. Enter the hot peppermint patty, which tastes like an alcoholic, liquid version of an After-Eight mint. It's so sweet that you won't need more than one or two, so there's little danger of accidentally over-indulging, but it's the perfect comfort cocktail on a cold winter's eve.

So, what you'll need is:
1oz Peppermint Schnapps
1/2 oz dark creme de cacao
1 tsp creme de menthe
Hot Chocolate (the instant powdered stuff's fine)
Whipped cream
Chocolate shavings or sprinkles to decorate

All you need to do is:
Combine the liqueurs in a mug or irish coffee glass, top up with hot chocolate, and then jazz it up with whipped cream and the chocolate shavings or sprinkles. Get settled with a good book, trashy soap opera or board game and slurp away until you're warm and cosy inside and out.

(Image courtesy of antmoose's Flickr photostream)