Friday, December 24, 2010

Hot Cocoa Time!!!


Several years ago, a good friend of mine, who also likes to cook, found a recipe for hot cocoa on the Food Network and passed it along to me. Not only is this recipe easy to put together, prep time is five minutes, but it makes 5 ½ cups of dry mix that keeps indefinitely in the pantry.

There’s nothing like a mug of hot cocoa on a windy, cold winter’s night. Even moreso when you’ve made the cocoa mix from scratch. If you’ve got five minutes you can do this.

Hot Coca
from Food Network.com

2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 ½ cups powdered milk*
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper*, or more to taste

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. The mixture works in either water or milk. I prefer milk because it has a richer flavor.

*Cayenne intensifies the chocolate flavor. This will indeed push chocoholics over the edge.
*If you want a creamier and richer flavor, substitute a powdered non-dairy creamer for the powdered milk. I use a hazelnut flavored powdered non-dairy creamer.

After it’s made, throw in a few mini-marshmallows, or even better a shot of peppermint schnapps and you’ll have the best hot cocoa you’ve ever tasted!

Now I’m off to enjoy this luscious mug of hot cocoa along with a slice of homemade Poppyseed and Almond Bread. Yum!!!

Namaste
Chris

3 comments:

Lisa Johnson said...

Love the photo and the sentiment! The cornstarch is a surprising ingredient. I guess it makes it creamier?

Merry Christmas to you Chris! ; )

Relyn Lawson said...

Well, I didn't get here in time for Christmas, but I wanted to stop by and wish you the merriest of Christmas seasons. I hope the day itself was wonderful and I hope that the coming week is full of joy. May you find laughter with friends, affection and joy with family, short return lines, and lots of great deals during after-Christmas shopping. I want to thank you for your thoughtful blog and for dropping by mine. You have made my year richer and fuller and sweeter. Merry, happy, joyous New year!! Much love, Relyn

Lynn said...

Oh yum! Did you save a piece of that poppyseed bread for me?