A cup of hot chocolate is a wonderful way to start the day. Don't be limited by instant hot cocoa mixes, though. Their ingredients, which include not only sugar and cocoa, but also corn syrup, partially hydrogenated palm or soybean oil, powdered milk, flavorings, carrageenan or guar gum, salt, and chemicals like sodium aluminosilicate and dipotassium phosphate, aren't necessarily the most conducive to a good, healthy cup of hot chocolate.
It's not hard to make it yourself from good quality cocoa powder.
Just mix together 2 T cocoa, and 1 T sugar. Stir in 4 cups of water or milk which has been heated just till bubbles begin to form at the edges of the pan.
Turn it into delicious Café Louvois by mixing the resulting hot chocolate with equal parts of coffee. Gently stir a tablespoon of whipped cream into each cup.
As fall nears and there's a bit of a nip in the air, you can mix up hot chocolate with water as described above and add a spoonful of whiskey for a special addition to an afternoon tea party.
Or get fancy with this Spanish drink:
Beat 3 tablespoons honey with 9 egg yolks. Beat in a shotglass of rum and 1 t each allspice, ginger powder and grated lemon peel.
Whisk the egg mixture into the hot chocolate and heat it till it's hot but not boiling.
In the evening, consider this bold Guatemalan take on hot chocolate:
Heat 2 vanilla pods in 4 cups of milk for 5-10 minutes. Stir 2 heaping T of cocoa into 1 / 2 cup of water, and stir it into the hot milk along with 2 tablespoons honey, 4 tablespoons sugar, and a dash of cayenne pepper or 1 / 2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce.
Add tequila or rum, if desired.
The versatility of chocolate shows up even in simple cocoa.
