Cold-Weather Cheer

[Lucretia]

Have you found much difference when you fry the cocoa? I generally just add enough milk to the dry ingredients to form a paste, then add the rest of the milk.

[Lucretia]

Little dash of vanilla is nice too.

Oh, yeah. Forgot that---I add a little vanilla at the end after turning off the heat. And a dash of salt at the beginning.

[chinacats]

I JUST spent a few hours tweaking my hot chocolate recipe for a class I'm teaching tomorrow...here's my (for the moment) final recipe:

Hot Chocolate

4tbsp Butter
4tbsp Cocoa powder
4C Milk
8tbsp sugar
1tsp ground green cardamom

Procedure
1 Melt butter over medium heat, add cocoa, cardamom, and sugar. Stir until well-incorporated and fry for 1-2 minutes to extra fat-soluble compounds from cocoa and cardamom...careful to not scorch
2 Add milk, stir over heat until milk simmers
3 serve immediately...or after it cools a bit, depending on preference.

Not OMG by any stretch...but nice....comforting.

I feel like I've been missing out here...butter in hot chocolate. A whole other world exists...I will have to try this tomorrow.



tonight is more honey, lemon and whiskey

[ecchef]

Russian caravan tea & a shot of Islay.

[knyfeknerd]

Bourbon, single barrel
Scotch, Glenlivet
Irish Whiskey, Jameson, Bushmills, Powers, really any Irish Whiskey.
I've been known to drink really hot hot sauce too.

[bieniek]

milk boiled with mince garlic and honey.

Hot wine with cloves and cinnamon.

[Lucretia]

milk boiled with mince garlic and honey.

I am going to have to try this one!

[Zwiefel]

Have you found much difference when you fry the cocoa? I generally just add enough milk to the dry ingredients to form a paste, then add the rest of the milk.

Like the new profile pic Lucretia...

The cocoa does get a deeper flavor from frying...but the cardamom is the real beneficiary...

Cinnamon and cloves are nice too

[jmforge]

Just so you all know, I see nothing cheerful about cold weather whatsoever.

[Lucretia]

milk boiled with mince garlic and honey.

Had some this morning with breakfast and it was really very good...BUT...for hours I could have hired myself out to peel paint off things--morning breath + garlic is TRULY a frightening thing.