For the Love of [Hot] Chocolate

Chocolate rules our house. My daughters are constantly asking for it around here. My husband has it permanently embedded into his shopping list. We love it. We love hot chocolate, we love cold chocolate, we love ALL chocolate!

And today is a perfect day for a nice cup of rich creamy cocoa. It's a lazy, cozy kind of day.  We-don't-have-to-drive-anywhere kind of day.  It's time for some drinking chocolate! So to get the girls off my back, so-to-speak, I entice them with their share first. Extra whipped cream, and chocolate shavings, of course.

It takes them just a couple of minutes to chug it down. Kids... They just don't savor stuff! ;)

But we do! And since we don't have to drive anywhere today, I've decided to add a little "grown-up flair": a splash of Godiva liquor, and some Vanilla rum. Perfectly finished with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, naturally! :)

To make my cocoa, I use this rough formula (per cup):

• milk - 6 oz
• cocoa powder - 3 TBS
• sugar to taste (about 2 TBS for us)

There are two important things to remember in order to make a perfect cup of hot chocolate: do not to let the milk boil, and mix your cocoa powder and sugar with a splash of hot water prior to adding it to the milk. This will prevent the clumps of powder, and will make the cocoa silky smooth.

For our "grown-up" hot chocolate I added about an ounce (total) of Godiva chocolate liquor and Capt. Morgan's Vanilla rum to the cup, before pouring cocoa into it. I also used lavender sugar in place of plain sugar, for an extra hint of blissfulness. Oh, and blissful it was!!! Bottoms up!