{"id":77373,"date":"2025-02-09T07:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T07:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/baking-category-a-b\/spiced-hot-chocolate-a-half\/"},"modified":"2025-02-09T07:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T07:03:08","slug":"spiced-hot-chocolate-a-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=77373","title":{"rendered":"Spiced Hot Chocolate \u2013 A Half-"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>This blog now has a new whizzy, pretty home at <a href=\"http:\/\/ahalfbakedidea.co.uk\/\">ahalfbakedidea.co.uk<\/a>. You can sign up on the right hand side of that page to received updates straight into your inbox once a week.\u00a0You can find all the old posts from this blog over on the new one, with better and easier navigation, as well as information about my other writing and private catering.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This week\u2019s recipe is an absurdly simple one. As we nose our way into Christmas, and realise that four or so days at home with one\u2019s family is not the idyll we\u2019ve dreamed of for the last three weeks, any excuse to disappear away into the kitchen is a welcome one. This is a recipe for those stolen moments sought out to preserve sanity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Hot chocolate is one of those things I forget how much I like until it\u2019s right in front of me, like corn on the cob, gammon and pineapple rings, or bread and butter pudding. It\u2019s only when I\u2019m reminded, usually by someone else taking the initiative, I become fixated. Two weeks ago it was <a href=\"http:\/\/ahalfbakedidea.co.uk\/2016\/12\/09\/hot-buttered-rum-recipe\/\">hot buttered rum<\/a> with every meal. If you stood still for too long in my house, I thrust one into your hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Now, it\u2019s hot chocolate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1877 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ahalfbakedidea.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DSC5777.jpg\" alt=\"Spiced hot chocolate bay cinnamon nutmeg baileys rum\" width=\"451\" height=\"600\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This week I\u2019ve been falling back in love with hot chocolate. Not the powder stuff \u2013 which is not a criticism: I <i>adore<\/i> cadbury\u2019s hot chocolate powder, never quite progressing to the more grown up, bitter cocoa \u2013 but proper, indulgent, standing over a pan of milk, peeling foil off a slab of chocolate with your thumb nail hot chocolate. There\u2019s a time and a place for whipped cream and marshmallows, and it\u2019s generally in a Thornton\u2019s cafe in 2003. This is something different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s dark and glossy and rich, without feeling like you\u2019re just drinking melted chocolate. <\/span><span class=\"s2\">And because it\u2019s Christmas,<\/span> it\u2019s infused with mellow, aromatic bay, alongside the fiercer, burn of cinnamon and gentler gratings of nutmeg. There\u2019s orange zest if you fancy it \u2013 sometimes I add it, sometimes I don\u2019t \u2013 or you can throw in a shot of rum or brandy or Baileys. It is Christmas, after all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It goes like this:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1878 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ahalfbakedidea.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DSC5781.jpg\" alt=\"Spiced hot chocolate bay cinnamon nutmeg baileys rum\" width=\"468\" height=\"600\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline;\">Spiced Hot Chocolate<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Makes:<\/strong> Just the right amount for two<br \/><b>Takes: <\/b>5 minutes<br \/><b>Bakes: <\/b>No time at all<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">100g good quality dark chocolate<br \/>350g whole milk<br \/>1 bay leaf<br \/>1 cinnamon stick<br \/>1\/4 tsp nutmeg<br \/>1 tablespoon of light brown sugar<br \/>Tiniest pinch of salt<br \/>Orange (optional)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">1. Heat the milk in a small pan with the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, grated nutmeg, salt, sugar and zest of an orange if using. You want it to be just beyond steaming but not so hot that\u2019s it boiling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">2. Chop the chocolate as finely as you can, and place in a jug. Place a sieve on top of the jug and slowly pour the milk onto the chocolate catching the cinnamon stick, bay leaf, orange zest and any larger grindings of nutmeg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">3. Whisk the milk and chocolate together gently: at first they\u2019ll look like they\u2019ll never combine. Be patient, and they\u2019ll come together into a a glossy, dark, smooth liquid. Divide into two mugs and enjoy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">4. Ta dah!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1879 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ahalfbakedidea.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DSC5783-e1482434352975.jpg\" alt=\"Spiced hot chocolate bay cinnamon nutmeg baileys rum\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline;\"><span class=\"s3\">Icing on the Cake<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This should be drunk sitting on the stairs, wishing you still smoked, doing your very best to think good thoughts and be thankful for your family. Maybe with a mince pie.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"wordads-inline-marker\" style=\"display: none;\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This blog now has a new whizzy, pretty home at ahalfbakedidea.co.uk. You can sign up on the right hand side of that page to received updates straight into your inbox once a week.\u00a0You can find all the old posts from this blog over on the new one, with better and easier navigation, as well as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[10489,888,24825],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-77373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baking-category-a-b","tag-chocolate","tag-hot","tag-spiced"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Spiced Hot Chocolate \u2013 A Half- Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=77373\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spiced Hot Chocolate \u2013 A Half- Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This blog now has a new whizzy, pretty home at ahalfbakedidea.co.uk. 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