Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Hot Chocolate and Halos

hot chocolate and halos

Halos are the same as cuties, different brand name. I believe the most proper technical name is mandarins.

I meant this hot chocolate, well first, to go with my marshmallows, but secondly to go with popcorn for a cozy at home winter evening snack, but I didn't feel like popping popcorn in the middle of the afternoon for this photoshoot and just grabbed two halos-cuties-mandarins-clementines-whatevers, and then of course I had to drink the chocolate and eat the ...little oranges, and of course, why didn't I think of it, chocolate and orange is an amazing combination.

The formula I started with was 3 oz chocolate to 2 cups milk for two servings of hot chocolate. Lindt dark chocolate bars come ten squares to a bar and they're 3.5 ounces, I think. I made one recipe with all ten squares and that was tooo rich. Haha, I had to know. Eight squares is just under three ounces, and even that was pretty rich. To me six squares is still rich, and actually four squares is just right, yes, I tried them all, and insert YMMV here.

I'm still playing around with the milk, my current mix is one part half and half to one part almond milk.

four squares or about 1-1/2 oz Lindt 85% dark chocolate, or your favorite chocolate
1 cup half and half
1 cup almond milk
two marshmallows

Pour half and half and almond milk into a small saucepan and drop chocolate squares into the milks. Gently bring to a simmer over medium low heat, stirring constantly. When the chocolate is melted, give it a quick whizz with a stick blender so that it's perfectly smooth.

Ladle into two cups and top with marshmallows.