Last week what I really wanted to share in DoAhead Dining was my “famous” Hot Chocolate recipe. Instead I posted a zesty version of the infamous Green Bean Casserole.
(Senility found me searching frantically for the recipe a third time. I vowed to post it on DoAhead immediately so that I would have it in the archives.)
I figure it’s a great DoAhead to find a special place to tuck a favorite recipe in anticipation of future senility. If you have a recipe you’d like me to post so you won’t lose yours let me know. I’d be glad to help a girlfriend out.
Back to hot chocolate.
When I was a college student the ingestion of hot chocolate helped me push through studies. I’m not talkin’ the Swiss Miss cocoa for a priss kind of hot chocolate.
Nope.
I’m talkin’ John Wayne swagger cocoa. The kind that grows hair on a woman’s chest.
If you are not a fan of dark chocolate don’t try this recipe. Instead, check out the beans from last week. But if you are, dear DoAhead this recipe is for YOU!
Cindy’s Hot Cocoa
Ingredients:
Cocoa Powder
Sugar
Milk
The key to a great cup of dark hot chocolate is the ratio 3:1:1. Three parts cocoa to one part sugar to 1 part milk. If you are having a small cup of cocoa use 3 Tbsp. cocoa, 1 Tbsp. sugar and 1 cup milk.
My daughter and I use cups that are more like bowls. We double the recipe. (Besides, the large cup makes stirring easy and less messy.)
Amazon link for Corning Ware “Mug”
A couple of tips:
Mix your dry ingredients first (the cocoa and sugar). Add a small amount of milk (roughly 3 Tbsp.). Stir and then heat in the microwave for 10 seconds. Stir again and add a small amount of milk. Heat once more. Now your ready to add the remainder of your milk. One tip: be very careful when you are heating the cocoa not to overcook. It’s easy to burn the cocoa.
Confession time, because my daughter and I love dark chocolate we’ve been known to go a touch heavy on the cocoa mixture. This is the part where you have to determine just how chocolaty you like your cocoa.
Obviously these portions are meant for small batches. When we have a big crew we get out the Cocoa Motion, Milk and Hershey’s Syrup. Not a bad second. We served some up to a table full of teens a couple of weeks ago. A little whip cream with shaved chocolate on top and we had cocoa that could compete with a coffee shop.
That’s it DoAheads. A simple but tasty version of Cocoa.
Drink and be warm!
Your DoAhead Friend,
I stared at that cocoa picture for a few minutes. Those perfectly coated marshmallows – just yum. I have several recipes that belonged to my grandmother – in her own handwriting – that I have tucked away in a safe place, which I now need to remember. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe – its around 75 in SoCal today, but I’ll be saving this one for the right day.
SEVENTY-FIVE! No fair girlfriend. Do you have a guest room?