Sweet Lydias

hot-cocoa-in-snow

If you live in New England you know what it’s like outside today. Major snow. I usually don’t get excited about dealing with feet of snow, shoveling out my car, slippery roads, but today is different. Starting last night, I felt like a little kid about to get a snow day. It’s not like I have a boss who would call me and say, “The office is closed today. Don’t come in.”  I decided I would bundle up and take care of business from home. After standing in knee deep snow to clear off my car, hot chocolate was a must to help warm up. I wasn’t planning on sharing this on-the-spot recipe so I didn’t get a chance to take a picture.  Next time.

Here is the recipe for the spiced hot chocolate that made my snowed-in day perfect.

1 1/2 cup milk or semi sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder

4 cups milk (I used skim and it turned out great)

heaping 1/4 tsp ground clove

2 cinamon sticks or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp instant coffee

freshly grated nutmeg

dark chocolate

Combine everything except the nutmeg and dark chocolate in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir constantly until the chocolate chips melt. Continue stirring until hot chocolate is hot enough to warm your up. Pour hot chocolate into four mugs and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and dark chocolate shavings. I might also suggest topping it off with a homemade marshmallow to make it extra special.

On another note . . . Sweet Lydia’s is in the Boston Globe today! Check out the article about young foodies taking the risk to start out on our own here.

Thanks for helping combat brownie boredom, one s’more at a time!™

Lydia