And, I cannot believe it took me 20-some odd years to make my own from scratch.
Seriously.
What was I thinking?!
It's so easy to make your own... and, oh, so delicious. Especially with special dark cocoa powder ;-)
Since I'm the only cocoa drinker in our house, I make it by the mug-full.
Hot Cocoa - Adapted from Hersheys
8oz warm/hot milk
1 T cocoa (Special Dark is awesome)
1 T sugar
sprinkle, salt
1-2 tsp. vanilla*
*If you wish to have a more "french vanilla" cocoa, add 2ish tsp. vanilla
First, measure the cocoa and sugar and place in the bottom of the mug of choice.
Then, heat the milk (in a microwave safe container, or in a saucepan) until it reaches the desired warmness. I've found it helpful to warm the milk in a large measuring cup because it pours so nicely into the mug.
Stir the mix as needed to dissolve the chocolate. Some clumps will remain... but, that's life.
Add in vanilla and the dash of salt. I don't know why you need the salt, but, it does make a difference.
Enjoy your nice mug of hot chocolate.
Recommended use: with a blanket, a good book and sitting before a fireplace.
This looks like a perfect way to start a cold day.
ReplyDeleteYum:) To avoid the clumps, here is an approach I have seen: after you put the sugar and cocoa on the bottom of the cup, pour a tiny bit of milk(or even water) and mix fast with a small spoon to homogenize. This can be done while the milk gets heated. So now you will have a thick cream on the bottom of the cup and as you pour the milk and mix, it will mix nicely and you will avoid the clumps:)
ReplyDeletemmm . . . you're making my taste buds do a little dance this morning! How yummy. I bet a nice little sprig of mint would go perfectly a top some whipped cream on that cocoa. I'm just sayin'. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, that's easy... and so much cheaper than those packets
ReplyDeleteOK, gonna give it a shot
Yum! Sounds good. I love Mint Chocolate so sometimes I stick a candy cane in it.
ReplyDeleteI love hot chocolate, and this one looks amazing =D.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a bad foodie now because I have never made my own hot chocolate either! I was using my cocoa powder the other day and realized it had a recipe for hot chocolate and I definitely thought to myself, hmmmm, I should try that. One of these days...
ReplyDeleteI love how perfect your cup is for this!
looks great! if i did it this way, i would save some space in my pantry with boxes of hot chocolate mix! (and money too!)
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know I wrote up a little something on my blog about you!! Here is the link http://gaertegang.blogspot.com/2009/12/finding-joy-in-my-kitchen.html
ReplyDeleteYum, I've never had homemade either, but I am gonna try it now!
ReplyDelete:)
hmm I wonder what's the deal with the salt. I never would have added that, but I surely will the next time we have cocoa (hopefully this weekend.) My husband is totally on board with my organic goals after seeing Food, Inc too! I guess guys just need to see it to believe it.
ReplyDeleteI think I"ll have to get up off the couch where I've been working all day, and make some! Perfect way to finish off my last Christmas gift.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to try this. We make hot chocolate for the kids (they even make their own) with milk and Nestle syrup. It's really just warmed up chocolate milk, which is good, but not really hot cocoa. We just got some new mugs that will be perfect! I'll let you know. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteWe have done this for years, but the recipe we made we heated up the cocoa and sugar with some water. The lumps dissolve and then you add the milk and vanilla!!!
ReplyDelete