Best Instant Hot Chocolate

I love hot chocolate. At one point, in graduate school, I would buy giant containers of instant hot chocolate and drink it all myself. I realized, 2-3 containers later, that this may not be a good idea, so I stopped. I think I lost several pounds, and I haven’t regularly kept hot chocolate in my cupboard since.

Maybe you’ve experimented with different chemical combinations of hot chocolate before–non-dairy creamer, powdered milk, powdered sugar, Nesquick, cocoa powder in various combinations. Maybe you’ve enjoyed some and others have needed a good dose of hot milk or more sugar. (I’ve made and tried both types.)

However, I recently tried an amazing recipe for instant hot chocolate. Well, “instant” may not be the right word, because this does require that you heat up milk. But that’s all you have to do once you make it. It is delicious and the perfect combination of chocolate and cocoa. Maybe you know this, but I only just learned the actual difference between “hot chocolate” and “hot cocoa”–one is made with shaved chocolate, the other is made with cocoa powder. (It should be a given, but I’d never considered the difference until I started making it myself, from scratch, not a packet of non-dairy creamer in sight.)

This makes a small batch, but it is fulfilling.

Mexican-Style Hot Chocolate Mix

Makes 1 cup mix, enough for 16 servings.

1/2 C. sugar

2 T. whole almonds

1 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/4 C. cocoa powder

1 t. vanilla extract

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground cloves

Combine sugar and almonds in a food processor. Process until almonds are finely ground. Add chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon and cloves. Process until mixture is finely ground. Store in an airtight container; this will keep about 6 months. (Probably not a problem.) To make 1 cup hot chocolate, heat 1 C. milk with 1 T. mix. Whisk until frothy.

Simple Christmas Baking: Part 2 Dried Cherry Oven Pancake

Dried Cherry Oven Pancake

Here’s another recipe that can be served for breakfast or dessert. It’s easy to mix up and it can bake while you spend time with your family. Make this with dried Michigan cherries! (You can get them in big boxes at Meijer.)

1 T. butter, melted, plus more for the pan

3 large eggs, beaten

1/3 C., plus 1 t. granulated sugar

3/4 C. all-purpose flour (or a scant less whole-wheat pastry flour; the final product will not rise as high with whole-wheat flour, though.)

1 1/4 C. whole milk

1/2 C. dried cherries

Heat oven to 375. Butter the bottom and sides of a 2-quart baking dish. In a bowl, combine the eggs and 1/3 C. sugar. Whisk in the flour until no lumps remain. Whisk in the milk and melted butter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and scatter the cherries over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and bake until puffed and golden, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Chai: All Types

I love chai. You can buy tea bags called “chai” that are black tea with spices, but I prefer non-tea-bag types of chai. My husband is particularly partial to Oregon Chai, which you mix with milk and heat up. It comes in a box.

According to my favorite Indian cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking, “Chai is Hindi for ‘tea,’ so adding the word tea after chai is redundant. Chai is always brewed in milk, giving it that rich creamy flavor.”

I’ve learned how to make several variations of chai and here we’ll move from “most authentic” to least authentic. Different as they are, however, they all have that warm flavor of spices that are perfect on an autumn morning or afternoon. Enjoy!

Darjeeling Tea with Cardamom

from Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking

2 C. water

1/4 C. loose Darjeeling tea leaves or 5 tea bags of black tea

2 C. milk (not skim)

1/8 t. ground cardamom

2 whole cloves, crushed

2-4 black peppercorns, crushed

pinch of ground cinnamon

1/4 C. sweetened condensed milk or 2 t. sugar

Heat water to a rapid boil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat; reduce to low. Add tea leaves; simmer 2-4 minutes to blend flavors. (If using tea bags, remove and discard.)

Stir in remaining ingredients except sweetened condensed milk. Heat to boiling, taking care not to let the milk boil over.

Stir in condensed milk. Strain tea into cups. Serves 4.

Chai Mix

This recipe allows you to make a spice blend so that you can make numerous batches of chai (about 24 servings!). I’ve been making this recipe for about 10 years. It takes a little work, but it’s worth it and the smell of roasting spices is a wonderful fragrance for your kitchen and home.

5 T. cardamom pods (Not just the seeds!)

2 T. whole cloves

1 T. coriander seeds

8 2″ long cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces

1/4 t. black peppercorns

2 whole star anise

1 t. ground ginger

In an ungreased heavy skillet, combine all the spices except the ginger. Stir over medium heat 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Add ginger. Spoon mixture into mortar in manageable batches. Pound briefly, just enough to crush spices coarsely. (You could also break them up with a rolling pin or pulse them briefly in a spice grinder.) Transfer to an airtight container for storage; this will keep about 6 months. Store in the refrigerator.

To make 2 cups of chai: In a small saucepan combine 1 C. milk with 2 rounded t. chai mix and 2 t. brown sugar (or more to taste. I use more.) Heat just until mixture bubbles at edges. Turn off heat and cover. Steep about 10 min. while you make tea. Brew a pot of Assam or Darjeerling tea using 2 C. boiling water and 2 t. tea. Reheat spiced milk, if necessary. Strain into two large teacups. Add hot tea.

Instant Chai: liquid

OK–now we’re starting to get inauthentic. I made this recipe for years and then I lost it. I had to go searching on the internet for something similar and I think this is it. Click here for this recipe. In this recipe, you mix spices with sweetened (or unsweetened!) condensed milk. Then, you keep it in the refrigerator to add to cups of black tea. It’s easy and the ingredients are fairly Michael Pollan OK’d. (Michael Pollan recommends that we eat food that our great great grandparents would have been familiar with.)

The next recipe is not OK’d by Michael Pollan.

Instant Chai Mix

1 C. non dairy creamer

1 C. french vanilla creamer

1 C. unsweetened instant tea

2 1/2 C. sugar

1 t. cardamom

1 t. ground cloves

2 t. ground ginger

2 t. cinnamon

Mix ingredients together. If you want, use a blender to grind it into a very fine powder, one cup at a time.

To serve, stir 2 heaping t. into a mug of hot water.

Enjoy. Don’t ask where non-dairy creamer comes from. (But I did…and here’s the answer!)

 

Easy Grape Juice

I grew up drinking homemade grape juice. Mom would store the jars in the laundry room. I remember how the quarts of grape juice lined up on the shelf would gradually diminish as the winter progressed.

Yesterday we made grape juice. I don’t really have a recipe, I just call my mom every year and ask her.

So, this year, I’m going to write down the instructions from Mom. I’ve tried to find this online, but it seems that most of the online recipes I find involve smashing the grapes. That is far too much work for me, especially these days. This one is very easy, and you can change the proportions to taste. (And don’t worry, Mom. I’ll still call you.)

Easy Grape Juice

concord grapes

sugar

boiling water

1) Remove the grapes from the stem and wash well.

2) Place grapes in sterilized jars. Add sugar. Fill to the top of the jar with boiling water. (“How much do I add?” you ask. Well, it depends. If you like really sweet juice, add more sugar. If you want concentrated juice you can water down later, add more grapes. I add 2 C. grapes and 1/2 C. sugar to each quart jar and then I dilute it to taste when I open the jar.)

3) Boil in a hot water bath for 25 minutes. Remove from the water bath and allow to cool. Allow the juice to sit for at least 2 weeks before straining out the grapes and serving. Enjoy!

Sweet Peach Tea

Peaches are a wonderful Michigan summer crop. I’m partial to Red Haven peaches, which (sadly) have been early this year. My last one is sitting on the kitchen counter waiting for me to eat it.

This tea recipe is one of my favorite things to make with fresh peaches. It is delicious and needs little introduction except to say that I broke a pitcher making this tea last week. There was a crack in it and the hot water caused the crack to come around and meet itself. Oh well, there are more pitchers.

Sweet Peach Tea

1 oz. tea leaves (black, about 1/3 C. loose tea or 7 bags)

1 lemon, sliced

1 piece ginger (about 2 inches) peeled and sliced

1 qt. boiling water

8 C. ice cubes

2 peaches, peeled, pitted and diced (I actually don’t peel them. I just wash them very well.)

1/2 C. sugar

8 sprigs mint

1 peach, pitted and sliced

Place tea, lemon and ginger into a heatproof container and add boiling water. Let tea steep 7-8 minutes. Place 4 cups of the ice in a pitcher, then pour in tea. Blend diced peaches and sugar in a blender until smooth; mix into tea. Serve in glasses over remaining ice and garnish with mint and peach slices.