Home Made Hot Chocolate

You ever have one of those days? You know the kind I 'm talking about..... the only thing that would help bring it to a close without being a total loss?  Hot chocolate.  Mmmmmmmmmm.

There's nothing like it for making a body feel hugged and special!  Of course, anybody can pull out the Hersheys, Nestle's or what-have-you....but that's not what I'm talking about!  Nope. See...I can't tolerate a lot of chocolate, stuff gives me racing headaches!  So if I'm gonna risk pain, it had better be worth it!

I'm talking about real live, direct from the chocolate block, melted to perfection then whisked with milk into submission......now THAT'S  hot chocolate!  Worth every headache I'll ever have!

Rolling pin therapy

Start with about 2 cups of milk in a sauce pan.  Heat to just warm then turn off. Set it aside.
Get 2 or 3 blocks of Baker's dark semi-sweet chocolate or similar product.  In my case I have the remains of a huge block of dark semi-sweet chocolate from a chef friend.  I had to break it down by beating it with my rolling pin, but that's okay...helped get rid of a few frustrations too.
Anyway, next put this chocolate in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, add 2 Tablespoons of water.  Place in microwave oven and cook on high for 1 minute.  Stir, cook for an additional 30 seconds. Stir again.

Chocolate "paste"

Bring the chocolate "paste" to the stove.  Put a medium flame under the milk and add the chocolate, stirring constantly.  Put some of the milk into the cup to get all the "slurry," or remnants.  Add this to the milk too, and keep stirring.  You see the milk get darker and maybe even thicken slightly.

You may or may not need to add sugar, the choice is yours!  Give it a try!  Let me know how it works for you, if you have any recipe ideas, comments or suggestions!

 Enjoy!

Enjoy!