Susan Merrill

Forget sugar plums! My candy of choice for the holiday season? Peppermint.  Ahhh….. peppermint… so cool … so fresh and wintery… so great with chocolate! I love it, and since the peppermint season comes but once a year, I feel totally free to indulge.

My annual peppermint obsession arrived early this year. It wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet and I was hit twice. 

First, it was my daughter. We ran to Publix to pick up just three things for dinner.  It was supposed to be a quick trip to the store… in and out. But, in the freezer aisle, my daughter stopped dead in her tracks.  Her eyes were locked on a frosty shelf – she had spotted the holy grail of ice creams:  Edy’s Peppermint Candy. It’s only available around the holidays and so it flies out of freezer cases. There were only two left. We quickly glanced around, and then grabbed them both– never mind that what I really needed was vanilla to go with the apple pie I was making.

The second wave hit soon afterward.   Friends were staying with us, so I made a nice dinner.  I guess it wasn’t enough because at about 9 p.m. my friend started talking about how she really needed a Chick-fil-A Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake. It’s one of their specialty shakes that’s available for a limited time only.  I hadn’t tasted one yet, so I just ignored her whining.  We continued visiting and finally she looked at her husband… (we are very close friends and can say anything in front of each other)…  and said discreetly “Honey, I would have sex for a Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake!” 

Well, that caught my attention.  This was a peppermint treat worthy of further investigation!  We hopped in the car and I excitedly produced a Chick-fil-A coupon that would deliver us one milkshake free.  There was no line when we got there.  Peppermint perfection was just seconds away! But our sweet expectations were quickly dashed – they had just run OUT for the night of the peppermint milkshake stuff. This delicious peppermint concoction is in excessively high demand, we were told.  My friend assured me that the milkshake is everything they said it is and it will become a peppermint tradition for my friend and I.

Since I haven’t tasted the Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake yet, my traditional peppermint obsession stands – Williams-Sonoma Peppermint Bark.  It is a bit pricy for candy so my sweet husband has made it a tradition to buy it on sale the day after Christmas and give it to me for my birthday, four days later. It’s a treat worth waiting for… all year long!

What is your peppermint passion?  Do you have any good recipes?  What do you say to a little competition? 

Leave me a comment with your favorite peppermint recipe.  I’ll get the girls here at iMOM to make your peppermint treats… cookies, beverages, cakes, pies, candies… whatever you can think of  (a perfect strategy to keep my obsession fed for days!) and we will choose a winner or two or three.  And we’ll reward the winners with something fun.

Post your peppermint recipes by December 12th for the iMOM Peppermint Passion Challenge!