Hot Chocolate

Because when I woke up it looked like this outside...

and it hasn't melted.

I'm thinking I might have to declare the rosemary bush a loss, but I have some good ideas from Jennie at Straight From the Farm about how maybe to keep it going all winter. I'm also wondering how I'm going to get my bulbs in the ground. We don't usually get lake effect snow, so getting this much snow this early was a touch of a surprise. The nearest "big" city got 6 inches, but I'm thinking we got maybe 4.

I get to drive the 40 miles to school soon and I haven't wormed up yet. So I made myself this yummy hot cocoa and I should be warm in no time! And the nice thing about this particular recipe besides the hint of cinnamon is that I don't have to choose between enjoying a cup of hot cocoa OR eating. It's fairly low calorie so I can do both. Yay!


Hot Chocolate
adapted from Ellie Krieger
serves 1


1 cup milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp Hershey's Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
15 mini marshmallows


Heat the milk and the cinnamon stick in a small saucepan until just simmering. In a mug, combine the cocoa, sugar and water and stir to make a paste. Remove the cinnamon stick from the milk. Pour the milk into the mug and stir to mix well. Add the vanilla extract and stir. Place as many marshmallows as you like in the hot chocolate and eat the rest.

Margarita Sorbet

I have an aunt who used to drink heavily when she went to go visit her mother in a nursing home. My uncle started buying these margarita mixes that come in freezable pails. All he had to do was add a bottle of tequila and stick it in the freezer. He then would give the bucket to my aunt with a spoon. He said it slowed her down a little bit.

This sorbet makes me think of that. Partly because I was again having trouble waiting for it to freeze firm. What I ended up with is a damnass good sorbet that tastes remarkably like a very very good margarita. I could totally see serving this in a glass with a salted rim (except I like my margaritas without salt). And I completely have my husband to thank for this delicious scoop of frozen dessert. I promised him when I made the ice cream that I would make him some sorbet that didn't have any milk in it. And I'm submitting this one to Mike at Mike's Table for that ice cream event. I LOVE this event!

All it took was 7 limes and a frantic search for tequila that wasn't Patron (Patron in a sorbet is just ridiculous extravagant). We found two bottles of triple sec and a big litre bottle of Jose. It was a learning experience for our marriage. We have a HUMONGOUS stockpile of alcohol. We are a little bit short on the bourbon, but we have a crazy amount of pretty much everything else. I think it's part of being older when we got married. We not only combined 2200 square feet of stuff into a 700 square foot house, we combined bars. It's a little stunning. I think there may be more liquor in the garage too. As the Brain said, "we need to start drinking more." Maybe I'll just make more sorbet and go visit my mother. hee hee hee.

Margarita Sorbet

adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 large egg white

2/3 cup fresh lime juice (from 7-8 limes)

zest of 2 limes

1/4 cup tequila

1/4 cup triple sec

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Raise the heat and boil the syrup 1 minute. Remove from heat.

In a medium mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg white with an electric mixer until foamy. about 10 seconds. Slowly beat in the hot sugar syrup. Continue to beat until the mixture cools down slightly. Add the lime juice, triple sec, tequila, and zest. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight. The mixture will have foam on top, but will incorporate into the sorbet when it freezes.

Stir the chilled mixture, then freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer sorbet, transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Baby it's cold outside

Ah, winter has arrived. We have some pretty white snow. My old little Ford Focus needs time to warm up before I drive it or it gets annoyed with being cold. And temperatures this morning were in the single digits. brrrrr.

What better to do after a day of prancing along icy sidewalks, admiring Christmas light displays that would make the Griswald's proud and stomping my feet to get feelings back into my toes (damn my aversion to dress socks!) than to make some hot chocolate?

This hot chocolate recipe is from The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. It's not like the sickeningly sweet kind that comes in the little packets at the grocery store. It's rich and chocolaty and totally hits the spot. The flavor of the cocoa really comes out, so probably the better the cocoa, the better the hot chocolate will be.

The Brain, who had a little taste, said that it's not sweet enough for him. I'm okay with that. More for me. This would be really good spiked with some liquor too. Maybe some peppermint schnapps...

Factory Store Hot Chocolate

from The Essence of Chocolate

1/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tbsp plus 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

2 cups whole milk

In a small saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powder and sugar. Whisk in the milk and heat over low to medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and continue stirring for another 3 to 5 minutes, or just until steam begins to rise from the top. Do not boil.