Seductive Hot Chocolate

I'ts winter and there's nothing better than warming your self with a decadent cup of hot chocolate. This winter you might want to forget about the stuff you get in a tin at the supermarket and try making you a cup of your very own sinfully rich hot chocolate. Now's not the time to be worrying about calories (at least on the day you will be making this). Pair this off with the chocolate biscuits I posted previously and you will have your taste buds singing Whitney Houston's I will always love you. Now you don't want to have this everyday we do need to keep an eye on our waistlines but feel free to enjoy it occasionally or on weekends like I sometimes do. So grab a blanket, cuddle up and start a new love affair.


You will need to use the best chocolate you can get your hands on. I like to use Lindt chocolate but any fine chocolate will do. You could use any type or flavour of chocolate but I recommend that you use dark chocolate or 70% chocolate. Use white chocolate for a white hot chocolate drink.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups milk
½ cup fresh cream
100g dark chocolate
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions:

1. Using a serrated knife chop the chocolate finely on a clean cutting board or counter. Make sure that the surface you are using, especially if you are using a wooden cutting board, has not been exposed to any strong smelling foods that could impart bad flavours to the chocolate.
   


2. Heat milk over low heat and slowly add the chocolate stirring until all the chocolate has melted.
   


3. Add salt and vanilla if you are using it. (You don’t need to use the salt but using it brings out the flavour of the chocolate and also cuts back a bit on the sweetness.)
   


4. Increase the heat to medium and gently bring to a boil stirring continuously.
   


5. Remove from heat as soon as it begins to boil and serve immediately.
   


6. You can store unused hot chocolate in the fridge and re-heat before serving.

Tips and Variations:

• For a chilled refreshing drink cool the hot chocolate and then refrigerate until cold, Pour into cups top with whipped cream. Sprinkle shaved or grated chocolate and serve
  


• For a lighter hot chocolate drink replace the fresh cream with milk or water and use less chocolate
  


• For a less sweet hot chocolate use 70% or 85% chocolate.
  


• For those of use who are worried about too much calories you can replace the milk with use low fat or fat free milk and the cream with water. Cut back on some of the chocolate you use and use dark chocolate as a healthier option.


• 
  For those of us who would like to make white hot chocolate you could sprinkle some ground cinnamon into your hot chocolate for a nice touch.
  


• If you one those people who like to live on the wilder side of life you could add a dash of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and chilli powder. If you want add lots of flavour from the spices add them after you add the salt and before you increase the heat. If you want less flavour from the spices add them when you remove the pot from the heat just before serving.
  


• If you want a more adult drink you can add a dash of your favourite liquer. Good options are Grand Marnier, Kahlua, Irish cream liquer, Frangelico, peppermint liquer or chocolate liquer. If you adding liquer you would need to do so before increasing the heat to make sure that the alcohol is burned off.

The possibilities are endless

Another for you to try

Nutella Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

3 tablespoons Nutella
1 1/3 cups milk

Directions

1. Put Nutella and 1/3 cup milk in small saucepan over medium heat.


2. Whisk until blended.


3. Add remaining milk, increase heat to medium-high, and whisk until hot and frothy.


4. Pour into a mug and enjoy.

For extra decadence you could top your cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream or marshmallows

Chocolate Kissed Biscuits (Cookies)

What could be better than biscuits covered in chocolate with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winters day. Every winter I make these and I can't get enough of them. Because I love chocolate so much I decided that I would like to try the chocolate version. I'm going to keep myself busy making these this coming weekend.

Don't make too many though otherwise you won't be able to keep your hand out of the biscuit tin. I always make and share with my friends and neighbours. You could use milk or dark chocolate with these but I prefer milk chocolate cause I find it not too overpowering. You don't need a lot of time to make these so they good for any day of the week. Bon Apetit!

Ingredients

225 g self-raising flour
90 g cocoa
30 g cornflour
225 g unsalted butter or margarine, softened
90 g icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
115 g chocolate, melted
icing sugar, for, dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Grease 2 large baking sheets.
3. Into a bowl sift together the flour,cocoa and cornflour.
4. In another large bowl beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy.
5. With the beater on low speed gradually add in the flour mixture and vanilla essence until it becomes a soft dough.
6. Shape into'bar' shapes about 10cm long by 5cm wide. Allow room for spreading. OR Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe and pipe into finger shapes about 5 to 10 cm long. Allow room for spreading.
7. Bake about 15-20 minutes until light golden brown, rotating baking sheets at half-time to allow for even cooking.
8. Keep an eye on them as they should only be slightly firm and all ovens are different.
9. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking tray and then transfer to a wire rack and cool until firm.
10. Dip one end of each cookie into melted chocolate and place back onto greaseproof paper and allow chocolate to set. Alternatively you could dust with icing sugar
11. Store in container with waxed paper between layers.

There are so many ways that you could change the recipe to give you differnt varieties.

• You could leave out the cocoa to make them plain. Pipe rosettes instead of "fingers" and dip the bottom of the biscuits in chocolate. If you want to make them extra special you can place a small glaced cherry in the centre of the biscuit prior to baking.

• You could also mix chopped pecans into the dough and instead of piping roll into little "fingers". Dust them with icing sugar after they have baked.

• You could also pipe circles and place a little jam in the centre before baking. Dust with icing sugar after they have baked.

The possibilities are endless! Have fun.