Mint Hot Chocolate

We took down our christmas tree today. . . which left us with about two dozen candycanes loitering around the house.  It was at this point that I remembered what my mother used to do with these.  Please note, this may be the only time I attribute something that involves "cooking" to my mom, she's not that interested in the kitchen. 
All you need to do is unwrap all the candy canes - this was a pain, I'll be honest.  Throw them in the blender and pulverize them.  Then you have a peppermint powder.  You can add this to hot chocolate and make mint hot cocoa.  You can also sprinkle it on cupcakes, cookies, cakes, it is wonderful on chocolate frosting, you could fold it into brownies.  It seems to melt in the heat and just leaves you with a yummy minty flavor.  Anyway, that's it - not really a recipe, but an idea.  Thanks Mom.