Honestly it's not my birthday or any thing .. but I must say"What a Wonderful day this has been!"
My friend Mom J.
( not to be confused with Mrs. J-Bean)
stopped by unexpectedly !
And she brought Hubby and I a gift!
Wrapped and everything !
Coffee and Mugs! How awesome of her.
This of course warranted big hugs and a long chat sharing coffee over garden catalogs.. It was a wonderful visit.. I even gave her one of the rooster tea towels I had just completed
(the ones in the earlier post) . She oood and aaad over it and couldn't believe I hadn't ever made these (crochet tea towels) before.. it was a great afternoon!
Well after she left and I rested up a bit,
I decided that these new mugs needed to be broke in with something special .
Home made - as in from scratch - hot chocolate!
MM MM MM!
This hot Cocoa Recipe comes strait out of my Grama's ol' wooden recipe box and is one of my favorites..When you measure out the Milk and water ( coffee) for this recipe , use the mugs you will serve in to measure them ( as in the photo below)
to make 2 mugs:1/4 cup Cocoa powder (I use organic)
1 tablespoon flour ( I use all-purpose unbleached)
1 teaspoon vanilla ( I make my own. )
1 cup(mug) sweet milk ( fresh milk with a sweet taste)
1/4 cup sugar ( I use organic)
1 cup(mug) good hot Water
a tiny pinch of salt ( optional- I use kosher if I add it all)
In an appropriate sized sauce pan over medium heat, add and mix together :the cocoa powder, sugar and flour
give this about 20 seconds or so to also warm and just start to melt the sugar
Next add the hot water ( or coffee)Bring just to a boil ..
Don't let this boil over ..
don't take your eyes off it
or it will boil over very quickly!
Stirring continuously,let it boil till it just starts to thicken
(see the thicker liquid on the spoon that's what you want.)
When it has thickened turn off the heat and remove the pan from the hot burner .
Add a little of the hot cocoa mixture(about a tablespoon at a time) to the milk
and stir (called tempering).
Do this several times to warm the milk
then add the milk to the cocoa mixture slowly while stirring the warmed milk in.
Now for the marshmallows
HEY!!!
whered-it-go????
DabNabIt!
Cant turn ma' back for one dern minute!
I swear!
Husband!
You better have saved me some
dang it!!
Any way add marshmallows
( home made are best)
to the cup and top with the hot chocolate!
Hope you enjoyed this as much as...um...
well as much as my husband does any way !
substitutions:
I some times substitute for 1 teaspoon of blackberry or raspberry schnapps, cherry brandy, cherry wine or orange liqueur for the vanilla extract)
I substitute Coffee (organic) for the water when I want something a little bolder ( like I did today).
Did you know
that the term Sweet Milk refers to fresh milk( as in milk right from the cow with cream just skimmed off) ?
It comes from the day when canned and powdered milks were more easily gotten than fresh milk. Today, I use the term to refer to store bought "fresh" milk that has a sweet taste rather than one that has a bitter or powdered taste to it.
Chocolate Blessings !
Ma Fey
