Peppermint schnapps substitutes

Clear peppermint liqueur built on the same idea, but sweeter and lower in alcohol.

Best for

hot chocolate, candy cane cocktails, peppermint patty drinks, frostings, mint chocolate desserts

The nearest match you can buy. Creme de menthe carries noticeably more sugar and less alcohol, so a peppermint hot chocolate made with it tastes rounder, thicker and more like a dessert, while a candy-cane martini comes out sweeter and softer with less of the cold alcoholic snap. If the recipe already has sugar or a sweet liqueur in it, cut a teaspoon of that back. Use the white version rather than green unless you want a grey-green drink.

The direct rebuild, covering sweetness, mint and liquid volume in one go.

Best for

hot chocolate, brownies, frostings, cheesecake, alcohol-free cooking, kid-friendly drinks

Flavour-wise this is very close, and in anything warm or baked it is essentially indistinguishable. What is missing is the alcoholic cool bite, which is a real part of the schnapps experience in a shot or a cold cocktail but irrelevant in a brownie or a mug of cocoa. Add the extract at the end and taste, because extract strength varies by brand and mint is unforgiving.

A DIY schnapps that matches the real thing on strength as well as flavour.

Best for

candy cane cocktails, peppermint patty shots, spiked hot chocolate, batched holiday drinks

The closest you can get without buying schnapps, and the only option here that keeps the alcohol level right, which matters if the drink is meant to be a drink. Stir until the sugar fully dissolves or it will sit gritty at the bottom of the glass. Slightly hotter and less rounded than commercial schnapps, which is usually a shade lower in proof.

Concentrated peppermint flavouring with essentially no sugar or bulk.

Best for

brownies, cookies, cheesecake, buttercream, ice cream

Fine for baking, but you must account for the two things extract does not provide. It has no sugar, so a frosting or filling will taste less sweet, and it has no volume, so a batter that expected two tablespoons of liquid will be stiffer. Add milk, cream or water tablespoon for tablespoon. The mint itself is sharper and cleaner than the liqueur's, which is often an improvement.

Hard peppermint candy, which is sugar and peppermint oil in solid form.

Best for

peppermint bark, hot chocolate, cookie topping, ice cream, rimmed glasses

Underrated for exactly the recipes schnapps usually appears in. In hot chocolate a crushed cane dissolves and gives you both the sweetness and the mint. In peppermint bark it is the traditional finish anyway. The advantage over any liquid is that it adds no water, so it cannot seize melted chocolate. The drawback is texture: crushed candy in a cold drink stays gritty until it dissolves, and in a batter it can turn to sticky pockets.

The same liqueur as white creme de menthe with green food colouring added.

Best for

grasshopper-style drinks, mint chocolate desserts, frostings

Tastes identical to the white version, so the only decision is cosmetic. Poured into white hot chocolate or a cream cocktail it produces a murky pale green that reads more like pistachio than peppermint, and mixed into red-and-white peppermint bark it looks wrong. Use it when green is fine or wanted, and otherwise track down the clear bottle.