Homemade Hot Chocolate

I can’t believe it’s end of November and we will be in a brand NEW year in little more than a month’s time. Time seems to fly with no worries, but here we are trying to play catch up with time. My space has been quiet for some time now due to a personal tragedy and I’m still struggling to pull myself together to do anything. But I thought Blogging marathon and hosting Kid’s Delight event will cheer me up and get me back into cooking and into the upcoming holiday mood. 

So here I am ready for another edition of Blogging marathon. Thanks to Valli for organizing 10 successful BMs this year. I picked “Winter Special Dishes” as my theme. Growing up in Southern India where the temperatures are mild to high throughout the year, dishes remain the same almost throughout the year. We use seasonally available produce, but the basic dish did not change dramatically. It’s only after coming to chilly northeast US that I realized the reason and need for making winter “special” dishes. Weather in winter makes me want to just curl up under a throw with a hot bowl of soup to warm up. 

These are the reasons I think what makes a dish “winter special”:

• Warms you up from within when eaten, like a soup. 
• Warms up the house when cooked/ baked, like a baked pasta dish etc. 
• Use produce available in winter, like winter squashes etc. 
• Since winter also means Holiday season, any dish that is rich and festive falls under this category too. 

 

So now you know what to expect for the next 7 days – some very yummy winter special dishes. To start off the marathon and to keep warm in this chilly winter, I made some hot chocolate from scratch. This recipe is very easy to put together and oh-so-much better than the readymade mixes. 

Recipe courtesy: Taste of Home 

Ingredients (Makes 3 servings): 

Baking cocoa – 3tbsp 

Sugar – ¼ cup (use more or less depending on your preference) 

Salt – pinch 

Hot water – ¼ cup 

Milk – 3 cups (I used 2 cups 1% & 1 cup 2% milk)

Pure Vanilla extract – ½ tsp 

Method: 

• Combine cocoa, sugar & salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in hot water and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. 
• Slowly whisk in the milk and bring the mixture to a slow simmer and simmer for 2-3 minutes. 
• Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Whisk the mixture until frothy. 

Enjoy as is or top it with some whipped cream and dust with chocolate.

Lets check out what my fellow bloggers have cooked up for the first day of BM# 10.