Hot Cocoa

It was the first snowstorm of the season. The winds raged and beat against the house, the snow swirled and covered our windows so we couldn't see outside, and my husband put on his coat, hat, boots, gloves, and went out to shovel the snow.

He'd been out for over an hour when I peaked out the door (because the windows were useless) and saw he was shovelling the neighbor's driveway. He already done ours, but the wind blew the snow back and covered everything again with 2 inches of snow.

I knew my husband would need some hot chocolate when he came in. Just then I remembered that we were out of instant hot chocolate mix! What was I going to do?

Well, if you ever find yourself in this situation, fear not. With a few simple ingredients, you can have delicious hot chocolate.

Milk
Water
Cocoa powder
Sugar

Optional:
Creamer (powdered or dairy)
Cinnamon

In a small saucepan, heat milk over medium-low heat. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. In a separate bowl, mix a few tablespoons of cocoa powder and a few tablespoons of sugar. Use a 3:2 ratio (3 tablespoons cocoa to 2 tablespoons of sugar) first. You can add more sugar later if you need.

When the milk is warm, not boiling, add a tablespoon to your cocoa mixture. Stir using a spoon and mash out any clumps. When your cocoa paste is all moist and clump free, add it to the warm milk and stir.

Voila. Hot cocoa! It is a little strong and slightly bitter, like dark chocolate compared to milk. Add creamer to cut the strong cocoa flavor. Add more sugar if desired.

I put in a dash of a cinnamon/sugar blend and it was SO good! In some ways this is better than store bought because it has a distinct flavor, however it is not as sweet. You just have to try it and see which you like better, but it's always good to know you can make hot cocoa even if you run out of mix.

Happy Holidays! Pin It

Horchata

1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar


Pour the rice and water into the bowl of a blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Let rice and water stand at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours.

Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice. Stir the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

I LOVE horchata! (Pronounced or-CHA-ta) It's a Mexican rice drink, and it tastes like rice pudding. I don't love rice pudding...in fact I hate rice pudding. But I love horchata. This is a very easy drink, and very festive (sorry I'm late on the Cinco de Mayo post).


Changes to the recipe: cinnamon. That is a LOT of cinnamon! I had to add another half a cup of milk and a few tablespoons of sugar to cut through the cinnamon, and it still didn't work. I even scraped off the excess cinnamon floating on the top. So I'd cut it down to about a teaspoon. Ground cinnamon will float to the top or sink to the bottom. That's the nature of the beast. So if you'd like, you can soak 2 cinnamon sticks in the rice water for three hours, and that should give you a nice flavor. Or you can just use the ground cinnamon and stir your drink before serving.


I love horchata. Who needs Bajio's when you can make horchata at home? Now if I could only figure out how to make their lime chicken... Pin It