Today Hillary is going to finish out her "What I made for Christmas" series with an awesome recipe for hot chocolate mix.
As you may well know, Alton Brown is my favorite foodie because his recipes are grounded in good cooking science, he explains his methodology clearly and his show is so gosh-darnded silly while being incredibly well-informed and informative at the same time. Many moons ago, I saw his Cocoa episode and promptly forgot it for something else like macaroni and cheese or pouch cooking.
A few months ago, I got a migraine in the middle of the workday and had access to ZERO chocolate. Some people say that chocolate aggravates migraines, but, for me, it seems to help my pain and improve my mood. I sent a message to my husband saying I wished I had some hot chocolate. When I got home, I was handed a large mug with a lot of whipped cream on top. "Hot chocolate?" I said, "I thought we were out?". "Yes" he said, "Taste it." So I did. It was rich, chocolatey, and spicy. The blend of flavors was very unique and perfect. "Where did you get this?" I said. "I made Alton Brown's Cocoa mix" he said. That was the beginning of what became my favorite cocoa ever, affectionately referred to in my house as "Super Cocoa." Right then I made him promise he would make some for Christmas presents and he agreed.
As time marched on and the holidays loomed, we both got more stressed out and tired. His reaction to that, like any sensible person's, is to rest. My reaction to that is to create things, and so, I ended up making the super cocoa and of course, I had to modify it a little so it became "Kickin' Cocoa". Below are the links/recipes for both.
Super Cocoa is pretty much just Alton's Brown's Recipe Straight up. You can find the recipe here and a video on how to make it here. The only difference is that my husband's "pinch" of cayenne was an awfully heavy pinch. It was excellent, but it took several cans of whipped cream to get through that batch.
Kickin' Cocoa is only slightly different. I added a half teaspoon of cinnamon and a very scant pinch of cayenne. The cinnamon is a nice warm, wintry flavor and the little bit of heat you get from the cayenne enhances that all the more.
To make it into "gifts", I simply made a couple of batches of Kickin' Cocoa, Put it in plastic bags, put the bags inside pretty gift tins, added a coffee scoop from the dollar store (2 tbl scoop), stuck on a pretty label with the directions on how to turn powder into a yummy drink and that was it.
We hope you enjoyed the recipe! See you soon for more recipes, interviews, and awesome updates!
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