Savoring a hot chocolate while having a chat with your loved ones by the fireplace (or a heater in most of our cases) on a gloomy, freezing winter day has never been a new idea. Probably because it doesn’t require much effort or originality. With some mere kettle-boiling and stirring skills, everybody can have a steaming hot chocolate made from store-bought cocoa powder within the blink of an eye.
Warm up yourself with a hot chocolate
This Christmas, to make it more original (to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year!), if you don’t happen to have in stock a handful of cacao beans you harvested yourself during your last visit to Africa, then how about trying my home-made hot chocolate recipe for a change!
Now, with that same set of skills (minus a step, as no boiling water is required), and the help of the ingredients (that I bet are all within arm’s reach in your kitchen), create a hot chocolate with a personal touch to delight your companion. Although this one might take you more than just the blink of an eye!
Hot chocolate in just the blink of an eye
Are you ready?
Off we go…
1. Ingredients:
- 2 cups fresh milk (480ml)
- 1/3 cup your favorite chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate chips, so no need for extra sugar)
- ½ Tablespoon instant coffee powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sugar (to your taste)
2. Preparation:
- Add the chocolate chips and milk into a saucepan and keep it over medium-high heat to warm up the milk but do not bring it to a boil.
Main ingredients of hot chocolate: chocolate chips and fresh milk
- Stir until the chocolates are all dissolved.
! Want it frothy? Stir vigorously! It tastes even better this way
Warm up the milk, add the chocolate
- Remove the saucepan from the heat when the mixture starts steaming.
- Add instant coffee powder (optional) and vanilla extract
Stir vigorously to make everything incorporated. Add coffee and sugar as desired
- Add more sugar if desired.
Personally, I think cacao and coffee make a good couple. A subtle hint of coffee won’t jeopardise the duo’s chemistry with more bitterness but will rather accompany your drink with a pleasant whiff, hence a sort of warmth and cosiness that coffee is famous for.
If you want it creamier, a spray of whipped cream on top will do the trick. Or you could also add whipping cream to the milk in your own proportion before heating and stirring the mix.
Tadaaa!
Be creative on your “one and only” home-made hot chocolate
Be creative on your “one and only” home-made hot chocolate and have yourself a wonderful get-together with your loved ones !
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh milk (480ml)
- 1/3 cup your favorite chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate chips, so no need for extra sugar)
- ½ Tablespoon instant coffee powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sugar (to your taste)
Instructions
- Add the chocolate chips and milk into a saucepan and keep it over medium-high heat to warm up the milk but do not bring it to a boil.
- Stir until the chocolates are all dissolved. Note: Want it frothy? Stir vigorously! It tastes even better this way
- Remove the saucepan from the heat when the mixture starts steaming.
- Add instant coffee powder (optional) and vanilla extract
- Add more sugar if desired.
Notes
If you want it creamier, a spray of whipped cream on top will do the trick. Or you could also add whipping cream to the milk in your own proportion before heating and stirring the mix.
This recipe is part of the Lexiophiles International Recipe Advent Calendar 2016.
