Financial Crisis Averted

"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino."
~ Joe Fox (as played by Tom Hanks) "You've Got Mail"

I'm sorry to say that I have jumped on the Starbucks bandwagon.  I'm not particularly fond of their roasting processes.  It seems like they intentionally slightly burn their beans for that distinct Starbucks flavor, and by distinct I mean acrid.  But alas, during this holiday season in one of my many many trips to Target I was sucked into the hoopla that is the Peppermint Mocha.  In an effort to avoid a Christmas shopping meltdown I stood in line at our local Target's Starbucks in complete awe of that alluring aroma.  I watched as perfectly normal shoppers were somehow seized by the gravitational pull, lumbering toward caffeine like a scene from The Walking Dead.

Starbuck's Holiday Campaign...or as I like to call it, "the first sip's free" push.

I'd only heard tell of the legendary Peppermint Mocha, and in my effort to buck the trend, I ordered mine as a White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha...and I was hooked...line and sinker!  Trouble is I craved it for a week, that sharp peppermint tingle, the oh so creamy whipped topping, and the feeling like each sip brought you closer to a trip to the North Pole was too intoxicating...and way too expensive!  I was headed toward a second mortgage, and fast.  I needed an intervention, better yet I needed a way to recreate this tantalizing treat at home.

I did some hunting in the grocery store and discovered that my faithful friend Coffee-Mate had a peppermint mocha flavor (squeal) but I couldn't stop there.  I needed that smooth white chocolate taste...enter Torani to save the day...

My Heros!

Bonus points...both ingredients are available all year long!  I just add both "to taste" in a regular old cup of joe.  It's not exactly the real thing, but it's close enough to avoid becoming a regular.

And so in the imortal words of Joe Fox: Grande.  No Whip.  White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha.