Quick Homemade Hot Chocolate

Without a doubt, the easiest way to prepare hot chocolate is with a little hot water from the kettle and some Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets. But if you ever run out or you suddenly find yourself craving some hot cocoa one cold night, it definitely doesn't hurt to know another way to get your hot chocolate fix.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of milk
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional)
• 1 pinch of salt

Hardware

• small saucepan
• whisk
• your favorite mug

How To

1. Place your saucepan over a medium/high fire.
2. Measure out and add 2 cups of milk to the pot.
3. Allow the milk to heat up for about 1 minute, stirring with the whisk.
4. Measure out and add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt.
5. Mix well using using your whisk - the powder might be a little tough to mix, just whisk a little faster and you'll get there.
6. Taste a spoonful of your hot chocolate to see if it's sweet enough for you. If it's not, add the tablespoon of granulated sugar and blend well.
7. Turn off your stove and carefully pour your finished hot chocolate into a couple of mugs.
8. Enjoy.

Tips

• While you can definitely choose to go all brown sugar or granulated sugar, I think it tastes best when you do a mix of both.
• You can also replace 1/2 the milk with heavy cream for a richer taste and thicker texture. If you do, add the heavy cream after mixing the ingredients with the milk and don't whisk too hard or you might end up with a texture closer to whippsed cream than hot chocolate.
• If there's already a pot brewed, try adding a splash (about a tablespoon) of coffee to the hot chocolate to enhance the chocolatey flavor.
• I use a natural cocoa powder (Nestle Toll House) which is a bit bitter, so I add a quite a bit of sugar and needed to do a little hard whisking. But if you have/use a dutch-process cocoa powder, you might need to cut back a little on the sugar and you'll have less trouble getting the cocoa to blend into the milk.