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Cocoa Extravaganza

There's nothing better that sitting inside on a cold winter's night and sipping a cup of hot cocoa. You may have grown up on instant hot chocolate, but you'll be surprised at how easy it is to make your own.

First, you need to pick a base. This could be any kind of milk from healthy skim to half and half. It's just as easy to make a low fat version. In fact, you can make it dairy-free by using a base of soy, almond, or rice milk. It's a perfect treat for a child with a milk allergy. Nothing lights up a little girl's eyes like a big cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows! Also, try some vanilla non-dairy milks. You can get them in unsweetened varieties as well as pre-sweetened.

Now, decide on a sweetener. You can use the usual sugar, or try honey or agave nectar for a different spin. You can also use a no calorie sweetener like stevia if you want to save a few calories for desserts. The beauty in making hot chocolate from scratch is you get to control exactly how sweet you want it to be.

Explore different kinds of cocoa. These days you can find tons of single origin chocolates and blends specially made for drinking chocolate. You will also find the prices vary widely too, so you may need to collect a few of these over time. Another option is to grate a chocolate bar and melt it in your base. If you use sweetened chocolate, you will probably leave out the sugar, but you could still add a touch of honey if you want to add a different flavor.

Mix the 3 ingredients in a saucepan and heat over a low flame so you won't scorch your milk. Taste as you go along and add more sweetener or cocoa if needed. Adding a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt makes it really special. You can make it Aztec stlye and add some chili powder. Try adding a cinnamon stick, cloves, and some orange extract for an interesting holiday brew.

Make sure to have some extra options for the grownups. Frangelico, Kaluha, Bailey's, B and B, and Grand Marnier are always out when I'm serving up cocoa. If you know most of your guests will be imbibing you may want to make the main batch of hot chocolate with less sweetener. You can always have extra sugar that people can add to suit their taste. I serve my hot chocolate in colorful sengWare mugs to add an extra splash of color.

Author: Kathy Hester

Posted: Friday 18th December 2009, 12:32 AM



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