Kate Kelly can be found blogging regularly at Life of a Ginger (formerly known as My Mommy Brain). You can find her writing stories about her life and her family, and sharing several delicious recipes just like this.
It’s finally hot chocolate weather here in North Carolina!
We have a love affair with hot cocoa in our house. There is almost nothing better than a steaming cup of hot chocolate on a freezing cold day.
I’m not a big fan of powdered mix, but it’s convenient and the kids like it, so I used to buy several of the giant, economy-sized containers every winter. My kids would make themselves hot cocoa (and a huge mess for me to clean up) all winter long.
Then one particularly cold night I REALLY wanted a cup of hot chocolate, but we were completely out of the powdered stuff. I wondered if I had ingredients in the house to make a cup that would satisfy my craving.
I looked in the pantry to see what we had and the shelves were fairly empty. I needed to go to the grocery store. But I didn’t want to go out in the freezing rain so I kept digging. I was able to find a handful of milk-chocolate chips in a crumpled bag hiding away in a basket of forgotten baking ingredients. I figured, what the heck? And threw them into a cup of hot milk. Mixed it all up with my handy-dandy frother, and the rest, as they say, is history!
What I created that day was a lovely, rich, cup of hot, frothy milk infused with real milk chocolate chunks, melted to a silky smooth perfection. Then I topped it off with a sprinkle of Penzeys Vietnamese cinnamon. It was heavenly and sinful all at the same time.
Over the past few years I have tweaked the ingredients here and there and finally discovered the perfect recipe.
I no longer allow powdered hot chocolate mix in my home. This recipe is so simple, and it only takes a minute or two longer to make over the powdered stuff! I guarantee it is the most delicious hot chocolate you will ever taste.
The thing that makes this hot chocolate so amazing is the frothy milk. The chocolate is completely infused into the milk, and the milk is all light and airy. It’s like you are drinking a warm fluffy cloud of chocolate. The only way to get your hot chocolate like this is to use a milk frother. I recommend the PowerLix Milk Frother. It nearly doubles the volume of the milk and mixes everything perfectly. Best part is, there is no chocolate residue left at the bottom of the mixing bowl when you pour out the last cup (NOTE: don’t use a frother directly in a regular-sized coffee cup or you will end up with hot chocolate everywhere)!
My favorite recipe, shared below, involves chili infused dark chocolate and dash of Vietnamese cinnamon. The only thing that would make it more perfect is some homemade marshmallows.
Simple Recipe for Spicy Hot Chocolate
Prep Time: 3 min
Cook Time: 3 min
Total Time: 6 min
Ingredients
1 cup of milk (I use low fat but you can use any kind, if you want really decedent hot chocolate, use cream or half and half)
1.75 oz Lindt Excellence Chili Dark chocolate (you can use any kind of chocolate), plus some shavings for garnish
1/16 teaspoon Penzeys Vietnamese Cinnamon, and a dusting for garnish (optional, I love the spicy flavor of this cinnamon)
Instructions
- Chop the chocolate into chunks while your milk is heating up in the microwave (you can use the stove, but I prefer to use the microwave). Put your milk in at least a 3 cup mixing bowl to have plenty of room to blend).
- Pour the chocolate into the hot milk.
- Using a whisk or a milk frother mix in the chocolate until well blended and frothy.
- Pour into a mug.
- Garnish with cinnamon and chocolate shavings.
Enjoy!
