Homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Delicious plain...

...but KILLER with real whipped cream & cinnamon

I'm not a huge fan of candy canes unless they're in a drink or crushed up into something like peppermint bark or the Candy Cane Joe Joes from Trader Joe's, which I absolutely love (both the Joe Joes and Trader Joe's).

This hot chocolate is soo good. I'm drinking it as I write about it.
I don't really measure things when I make drinks, but here's a really easy recipe that I just now put together for the drink above:

~1 cup hot water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa (THE BEST!)
1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar (not packed unless you want it sweeter)
3 Tablespoons whole milk
1 candy cane
Heavy whipping cream (however much you want)
Ground cinnamon

1) Heat the water
2) Mix in the cocoa
3) Add brown sugar & mix
4) Add whole milk & mix
5) Plop in candy cane
6) Top with whipped cream (use a mixer to whip liquid heavy whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks and add however much sugar you want
7) Sprinkle with cinnamon

* Notes:
1.)This would work well with mocha instead of just hot chocolate
2.) For a healthier version, use less whole milk, exclude milk, or use low-fat, non-fat milk, or soymilk instead
3.) For more peppermint flavor, add more candy cane pieces at the bottom or peppermint extract
4.) For an alcoholic version, add some Peppermint schnapps

Mia makes this drink in a similar way! Here's a picture of my drink at her place:

My hot chocolate at Mia's

hehe This is what happens to the cane