Thursday, December 15, 2011

Chocolately Treats

I like treating myself. Especially to coffee. Not just coffee. But the really good coffee. My latest favorites are White Chocolate Mochas and, for the holidays, Peppermint Mochas. I first discovered these at Starbucks, but God knows I can only afford so many of those. I then learned that McDonalds has them, too, and they're not bad at all, but cheaper. Still, I'm a poor college kid. So I decided to see if I could make something similar at home.
My mom hates coffee, so we've never had a coffee maker. So I borrowed my boyfriend's coffee maker and started Googling. After reading several recipes, this is what I came up with.

1. In a small bowl, combine equal parts warm water and sweetened cocoa powder.

2. Stir until it forms a smooth syrup.

3. Pour 2 Tbsp. of the syrup into an 8 oz. cup.

4. Add a shot (1 oz.) of espresso or double-strength, dark-roasted coffee. (To brew double-strength coffee, use 4 Tbsp. of ground coffee for every 6 oz. of water.)

5. Fill the rest of your cup with steamed milk. (If you don't have a milk steamer, heat milk on the stove to between 140 and 160 degrees.)

6. Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

I don't have a milk steamer, or a thermometer, so I just heated up the milk until it started steaming. I also didn't have any whipped cream on hand, but I did add a drop of peppermint extract. I thought it was pretty good, though Josh didn't like it.

Monday morning I woke up and wanted a breakfast treat. Once again I went to old reliable Google. Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins and Creamy Hot Cocoa it was. Here's the delicious recipes I used.

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup superfine sugar
  • 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Special equipment: Muffin tin with paper muffin cases

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup boiling water
  • 3 1/2 cups milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half cream

Directions

  1. Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

1 comment:

Michele said...

The muffins were awesome, by the way! I loved them...