Celebrate the holidays this year with this festive and easy Peppermint Martini. It’s a delicious and easy cocktail that is perfect for when you are entertaining guests. Don’t forget the crushed candy canes to garnish the martini glass!

Peppermint Cocktail in glass on cutting board

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I am all about the peppermint this time of year! Peppermint coffee drinks, peppermint cookies — I could go on and on! Basically, I haven’t met a peppermint treat I haven’t loved and today I’m sharing my new favorite: a peppermint martini! It’s like an adults-only twist on an iced peppermint mocha and it’s so easy to make.

I love drinks with coffee liqueur — my White Russian recipe is a go-to quite often. But this peppermint martini is another delicious way to use coffee liqueur. Add a few more ingredients, including peppermint vodka, and you get a festive drink that is all about the holidays. Make it for parties or for a holiday girls’ night in, add a few Christmas cookies, and you’re on your way to getting in the holiday spirit, for sure!

Why You’ll Love this Peppermint Martini recipe

This cocktail is cool and creamy, and it has the perfect combination of peppermint and coffee flavors that is just perfect for the holidays.
If you’ve been looking for a fun new drink to try I hope you’ll give this one a try. It’s super easy to make and so fun to serve – I think you’re going to love it!
It only takes 10 minutes to make this drink. So quick and tasty, and seriously perfect for parties.

Ingredients for Peppermint Martinis

Peppermint vodka – Make this martini perfectly minty with some peppermint vodka.
Coffee liqueur – Coffee liqueur is seriously the best of the best when it comes to making a delicious peppermint martini. A total game changer!
Milk – To make this cocktail creamy, mix in a splash of milk. You can also use heavy cream or half and half if you want.
Ice – Use some ice to chill this cocktail when you mix it up. It makes the flavor so much better.
Crushed candy canes – You can also use peppermints if you don’t have an candy canes on hand.
Sugar – Make a sugar water mixture and roll the rim of your martini glass in it so that the crushed candy canes stick easily.
Water – Use a little water to dissolve the sugar. This mixture is what you’ll rim your glass with.

Helpful Tools

Martini glasses
Cocktail shaker
Jigger
Plastic bag
Rolling pin

How to Make a Peppermint Martini

Before you get to shaking your martini, prepare the candy cane garnish first! It’s like salting the rim of a glass for a margarita except instead of salt you’ll use candy. I think the garnish totally makes the drink so it’s worth the extra effort to make it:

Grab a couple candy canes or some peppermint candies and place them in a resealable bag. Crush the candy with a rolling pin until it’s finely ground.

You can also crush the candy in a food processor. Just pulse it a few times until it’s finely crushed!

Once you’ve crushed the candy transfer it to a shallow bowl. Mix sugar and water together in a shallow bowl.

Dip the rims of your glasses in the sugar water and then dip them in the crushed candy.

Fill your cocktail shaker 2/3 full with ice and then add 1 ounce of peppermint vodka, 2 ounces of coffee liqueur, and a 1/2 cup of milk and secure the lid.

Shake, shake, shake until the drink is nice and cold. Pour into your glass and serve!

Can I make peppermint martinis ahead of time?

This martini is best served iced cold, so if you’re making these for a party I would have all the ingredients laid out so everyone can make their own drink. You can go ahead and rim the glasses, but I wouldn’t make the actual martini ahead of time.

If you garnish the glasses ahead of time all your guests need to do is mix their drink, have fun shaking it up and serve themselves.

What is the difference between peppermint schnapps and peppermint vodka?

Peppermint schnapps is super minty, has a higher alcohol content and typically tends to be much stronger all the way around. Peppermint vodka is more cooling and smooth, and has a more mild peppermint flavor. Both would work in this recipe!

What to Serve with a Peppermint Martini

Serve this minty cocktail with some minty sweet treats! It’d be so yummy with chocolate peppermint kiss cookies or peppermint bark. Chocolate treat would also be amazing! Some chocolate cake mix cookies and brownie bites are great.

Serving this around Christmas time? Then make some Christmas tree pretzels or Christmas tree brownies with this peppermint martini recipe.

Pro Tips for the Best Peppermint Martini

Always go with the shaken method! It more evenly distributes the ingredients and chills the cocktail perfectly.
Make sure you crush the candy canes into a fine enough texture so that they easily stick to the rim of each glass.
Don’t make this drink until just before serving so that it stays perfectly chilled and the flavor is spot on.

Cocktail shaker pouring into martini glass

This recipe for peppermint martinis is a game changer. It’ll be your new favorite holiday drink in no time!

More Holiday Drinks Recipes You’ll Love!

I think the best part of winter is hot chocolate! Nutella hot chocolate is always a winner or make a batch of slow cooker hot chocolate when you’re hosting a crowd!
For the adults, it’s so fun to make some grasshopper drinks – they’re minty, creamy, and the color is perfect for the holidays!
For something more refreshing but still wintry you have to try my winter sangria recipe! For the kids, serve up some sparkling Shirley Temples so they have something special, too.
Celebrate birthdays with grown-up Birthday Cake Shots!

Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!

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