The hot chocolate recipe on the back of the cocoa container tastes like bland liquid candy.
This tastes the way hot cocoa should:
Ingredients
- 1 generous cup milk (full-fat is where it’s at)
- 1 tbsp white sugar (just do it)
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder (not chocolate drink mix)
- 1/4 tsp Vietnamese cinnamon
- 1 tbsp milk for mixing
- few drops peppermint extract
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 20 oz Starbucks City Mug (got ’em cheap at a tag sale)
Preparation
- Microwave the generous cup o’ milk for 1 minute
- Mix dry ingredients in the giant mug
- Stir in just enough cold milk to make a thick mud (*)
- Add peppermint drops using 1/4 tsp measure
- Rinse 1/4 tsp measure with vanilla
- Blend the extracts into the mud (*)
- Stir in warm milk, scraping mud off the mug
- Microwave for another 45 s or so
- Stir to blend
What’s going on:
- More cocoa = more flavor, pure & simple
- Less sugar = more cocoa bite
- Vietnamese cinnamon adds the aroma & zip of those old Atomic Fireballs
- Vanilla smooths the taste
- Peppermint reminds you it’s winter
Sipping a cup in the afternoon banishes the urge to power-nosh anything else until suppertime…
* Update: non-alkalized / non-Dutch-process cocoa doesn’t blend well. Mix up the mud, let it set for 15 minutes, blend again, pause for 5 minutes, then proceed. Wonderfully smooth with no powder bombs.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
13 responses to “Ed’s Fireball Hot Cocoa Recipe”
Top with a generous handful of mini-marshmallows.
That way lies power-noshing… [sigh]
Practice moderation. Limit yourself to three handfuls of mini-marshmallows in each mug of cocoa.
Where there is no temptation, there can be no virtue, but I know my limitations…
We demand pictures :)
We’ve been doing a mocha as my first cup of caffeine in the morning. (My fault, but Julie likes it, too.) Costco decided that sugar-free Swiss Miss wasn’t cool enough to stock any more [sigh] so we’re developing our own mix. Right now it’s cocoa, milk powder and sucralose. (Because type II diabetes.) We already do an asian cinnamon with breakfast, but I might try grating a little nutmeg in the cup. I have nuts from a long time ago, but they seem to keep their goodness when stored in an airtight jar. The micro grater fits in the jar, so it’s always handy.
Printed for immediate use and clipped to Evernote for future reference…
I sweeten with chocolate chips instead of sugar, That adds cocoa butter and makes it taste like drinking dark chocolate…
I wound up with a nasty addiction to Guittard Bittersweet Onyx Wafers: it’s a really good way to boost the octane.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/guittard-bittersweet-chocolate-onyx-wafers-16-oz
A man’s gotta know his limitations… [heavy sigh]
I was addicted to the Hokey Pokey…
but I turned myself around.
I’m also keen to see a photo, with marshmellos, but in keeping with the general site content, I think a 3d printed penguin doing backstroke across the Chocoholic Lagoon may also be appropriate.
Printed with PLA, so it gets all melty around the edges…
[…] cocoa has a much lower surface energy than good old Hershey’s, to the extent that my Fireball Cocoa Recipe produces powder bombs, even after far more stirring than I’m willing to […]