Home Made Hot Chocolate

Time to get cozy with some hot chocolate!


By now, you've probably trimmed your tree and ordered your presents from Amazon and are in the mood to relax and enjoy the holidays. Riiiight.

Sanjay was having a holiday beverage party, and I wanted to bring something festive. As luck would have it, Smitten Kitchen posted about a decadent hot chocolate that can be made at home (bye Swiss Miss), so I decided this would be my beverage contribution. Once I arrived, I borrowed Sanjay's pot and started mixing away. While I was serving up glasses, Steven had an ingenious idea - to add peppermint schnapps!

After I had about four cups of this hot chocolate at Sanjay's party, I came home and made more mix to have on hand at the apartment, and now I've been drinking it every leisurely weekend morning I can! 

I am taking French classes, and in a funny small world story, my French teacher also teaches Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven!). My French teacher told me that Emily wrote another book, La Vagabonde, in French, and suggested I read it, so that has been my weekend reading this month.

Note, if you are still searching for holiday presents, Deb from Smitten Kitchen said that if you put these into a cute mason jar and tie some cute little string around it, you've got your holiday gifts all set! They last about 2 months in an air-tight container.



Hot Chocolate, recipe from Smitten Kitchen/Coooks Illustrated

Makes about 9 cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 3 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. fleur de sel or kosher salt (I used fleur de sel)
• Peppermint Schnapps (optional!)

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until powdery. If you don't have a food processor, Deb suggests grating or chopping the chocolate as finely as possible and then mixing into the rest of the ingredients.

To prepare your hot chocolate, heat one cup of milk per serving in a saucepan over medium heat. When it starts to steam, and add 3 tbsp. of mix for each serving, and whisk over the heat for another 1-2 minutes. Pour into mugs and top with marshmallows or peppermint schnapps to your liking.

This is perfect for things like ski trips too - I'm planning on bringing a mixture up next time I go skiing and enjoying with my fellow ski bunny friends!