Ditch the Box: Easy Homemade Hot Chocolate

 

RECIPE AT THE TOP; CHITCHAT AT THE BOTTOM!

Easy Homemade Hot Chocolate

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

dash salt

1/3 cup hot water

4 cups milk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:  

1. MIX sugar, cocoa powder and (dash) salt in a saucepan.
2. STIR in hot water.
3. COOK over med heat until mixture boils AND stir two minutes.
4. ADD milk to the above mixture and HEAT until frothy (DO NOT BOIL).  (Stir often.)
5. REMOVE from heat and add vanilla.
6. STIR well and serve.
7. ENJOY!

After the milk is added, let it warm (without boiling) until the milk gets frothy.

See the froth?  Mmmmmm!

The Chit Chat!

New Year's weekend we had an ice storm.  It was cold and dreary and there was seriously not much to do EXCEPT stay home!  In fact, even if we had found something to do, it was slick enough just trying to walk to the car that we definitely didn't want to drive in it.  Also, thankfully, it was not a work day so Doug and I pretty much just lazed around and were worthless.

After too much laying on the couch (watching Forensic Files), I decided that we needed a treat.  (I never ask Doug if he wants something special for a snack because he always says he is "fine; doesn't need anything".)  But, I remember making homemade hot chocolate when the girls were little and remember it being delicious so I decided to whip some up as a surprise before Doug could talk me out of it.  I used to use the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa box and that is what I searched for.  Pinterest to the rescue since I had a generic brand of cocoa in my pantry which didn't have a recipe for hot chocolate on the outside.

Homemade Hot Chocolate is wonderful!  You expect it to be overly rich and super sweet but it really isn't.  It's just the best and warming the milk creates the frothy experience you get when you use a mix.  It's frothy and hot and fudgy.  Mmmmm!

Probably the thing that reminded me to make hot chocolate that day was that I was crocheting a pair of mittens.  

(Not so great since one thumb is too small LOL - but this is the first pair so it's a start!)

The first time I ever had hot chocolate in my life was when I was in 8th grade.  I had recently moved with my family from central Florida to Missouri and I had signed up to learn how to crochet after school as part of a 4H class.  We walked to Mrs. Garrett's house from the middle school and she taught a small group of us how to crochet.  We walked to her house one very cold winter day, a day very unlike any I had ever experienced in central Florida. In Florida, it didn't even get cold enough for a glaze of ice to form on a mud puddle!  It was frigid the day Mrs. Garrett made us hot chocolate.  We arrived, nearly frozen solid after our walk to her house and she had hot chocolate warming on the stove in a tiny little silver pot on the stove.  We each got a steaming styrofoam cup of hot chocolate to enjoy before we got out our crochet projects.  It was amazing and after 40+ years, I have never forgotten the skills Mrs. Garrett taught me (although obviously, I needed her help with these mittens) nor the taste of her hot chocolate on that cold Missouri day.  (Funny how food can take ya back!)

Coincidentally, Doug had never had homemade hot chocolate in the year 2022 and I'm so glad he tried it this time!  He must have been out and about when the girls and I enjoyed it back in the day.  He now LOVES it!  It's always so nice when the one you love really enjoys some little thing you make.  

We both enjoyed super sized mugs of this Easy Homemade Hot Chocolate which was perfect for two middle aged lovebirds living in a Love Shack!  

Next time you think about buying a box of hot chocolate mix, SKIP IT.  Just make sure you have some cocoa powder in the pantry and a little milk in the fridge.  You will be much happier with a mug of this sweet and chocolatey treat.

Enjoy!

Gina