My household consumed a lot of hot chocolate this past week. 

In case you’ve missed the news or don’t live in the area, our normally mild, damp Northwest region has been facing frigid temperatures and snow accumulation unseen since the 1970s.  Living near the base of a steep hill on an icy, unplowed street, we’ve taken to activities like snowman-making, climbing up the hill for groceries, and making latkes, soup and hot chocolate for the twenty or so people who managed to trek to the house for the first night of Hanukkah. 

The hot chocolate is key.  Warming, fatty, indulgent... it’s what I want when I come back indoors from frolicking in the snow, or when I’m sitting cozily indoors watching the snow.

A few visitors to the house have commented that getting used to real, homemade hot chocolate makes it hard to go back to the stuff from the mix.  That’s a good thing.  Check out the ingredients from Nestle Rich Chocolate Hot Cocoa:

Ingredients:  Sugar, Corn Syrup, Vegetable Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Coconut or Palm Kernel and Canola, Hydrogenated Palm, Soybean, Cottonseed, and/or Safflower), Dairy Product Solids, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Salt, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Caseinate (From Milk), Potassium Phosphate, Sodium Aluminosilicate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Guar Gum, Artificial Flavors, Sucralose.

Mmm.  Would you like some more cottonseed oil with your corn syrup?  I didn’t think so.  If you retain a childhood fondness for that stuff, now is a good time to get over it.  Not only because it’s terrible for you, but also because real hot chocolate is so delicious and easy to make.  Here is a basic formula:

Real Hot Chocolate

Per person:

1 mug of whole milk, preferably raw and grass-fed

1 rounded spoonful of unsweetened cocoa powder

A few squares of very dark chocolate

Cream, whipped or plain

Vanilla, rum, Grand Marnier, or almond extract (optional)

Snowstorm

1. Come in from snowstorm.  Remove boots, etc.

2. Heat milk in a heavy pot.  It should get warm, not very hot; I test it with my finger.

3. Melt chocolate in a medium sized bowl or Pyrex pitcher.  Add cocoa powder to melted chocolate.  Stir in a few spoonfuls of warm milk to dissolve cocoa.  Add more and more warm milk, beating it to mix fully.  Add vanilla.

4. Pour chocolatey mixture back into the pot of the rest of the milk.  Stir, then pour into mugs.

5. Top with a dollop of cream or with whipped cream.  Need I say that you should make your own whipped cream?  It’s simple; beat cream until it becomes whipped cream.  Add a little vanilla and a dash of maple syrup or honey if you want, but the sweetener isn’t necessary.

6. Drink, while watching the snow.  Repeat as necessary.

VARIATION: Try adding spices to your hot chocolate, although please keep it simple.  Start with cinnamon and cayenne.  Mmm, spicy and warming.

OTHER VARIATION: I like both the cocoa powder and the melted chocolate.  But I’ve also made hot chocolate just with cocoa powder, hot milk, and a little maple syrup (or without, if I’m the only one drinking it, since I like bitterness).  I’ve also made it with just melted chocolate and milk.  But the way described above is my favorite.

By the way, I safely made it out of Seattle down to see my grandmother near Los Angeles.  But, just for fun, here are some pictures of the snow. 

Thanks to SteveHarris for the flickr CC photo.