Our area hasn’t had much of a winter this year, so the snow day we finally got last month seemed like a great chance to try Barbie’s homemade hot chocolate recipe.
Chill-Chasing Cocoa
Ingredients:
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- 3 cups milk
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- dash of salt
- marshmallows (optional)
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Put the cocoa, sugar, and salt into a large saucepan, slowly add hot water, and stir together to combine. Heat the cocoa mixture, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. Continue to stir and let it boil for 1 minute.
Remove pan from heat and add milk. Warm gradually, without letting it boil, until the cocoa’s hot. Then turn off the burner and stir in vanilla.
Pour (or ladle) the cocoa into cups and add marshmallows if you want ’em. Serves 2-4.
-Adapted from Barbie’s Easy-As-Pie Cookbook
Hot chocolate is the perfect cold weather drink, but for some reason I’ve never bothered trying to make it without a pre-made mix before. Considering that it’s something I drink regularly every winter, I’m not quite sure why.
Barbie’s Chill-Chasing Cocoa is one of eight drink recipes that kick off the cookbook, and more than half of those involve milk. We plan to try the 60s-est of the lot, a milk-based punch, fairly soon, maybe with the butter sandwiches that Barbie’s mom thinks would make an elegant Friendship Club snack. Other beverages that will eventually crop up here include lemonade, punch, and two kinds of eggnog.
This cocoa is noticeably tastier than the average powdered packet stuff, but that flavor boost may not always seem worth dirtying up a saucepan, a measuring cup, two measuring spoons, a stirring utensil, and a ladle.
I could see myself doubling this recipe in order to serve larger groups, but for just the occasional cup, I’ll probably stick with the lazier process of microwaving a mug of that fancy mix I get from the spice shop nearby.
Friendship Club! 