Minty Hot Chocolate

Now that Christmas has gone and 2011 has come, the last bit of fall that we have been holding has been pushed out of our grasp . The chilly rain falls and the gray sky sits, and all I want to do is sit by a heater with a warm blanket. I eat soup and drink tea with lots of honey. But when the cold days seem to drag on and the rain hasn't stopped streaking down for days, I want hot chocolate. Delicious, creamy, steamy hot chocolate, to make everything better.

My hot chocolate experience started with the packet and water after skiing, then I started to add milk, and eventually cinnamon. But how do you make hot chocolate, actually using real chocolate?! Because I love me my hot chocolate, I heated milk added chocolate and sugar and mint extract, and there it was sitting in my favorite cup.

Making hot chocolate from scratch is very, very easy. You can use any kind of chocolate depending on the bitterness you want, and you can use any kind of milk; including cream or half and half. I used half dark, dark chocolate and half semi sweet chocolate chips with a teaspoon of sugar. I also added a bit mint extract, to make it minty and bring out the chocolateyness ( if that is not a word it definitely should be)

I love stuff, as in toppings. Toppings just make everything better, so i used whipped cream (yumsers) and some shaved chocolate! You could also use marshmallows, candy cane, anything you want to make it delicious.

Recipe: serves 2-3

1/3 cup dark chocolate

1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate

4 cups 2% milk

1/2 teaspoon mint extract

1 teaspoon sugar

whipped cream

chocolate shavings

Bring the milk to a simmer over low heat. Slowly add the chocolate, and mint extract. Whisk for several minutes until the chocolate has been incorperated with the milk. Poor into a cup and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Enjoy :)