Hot Chocolate

fter 90 minutes of shoveling my car out of its 3 ft (.9144 meter) snow drift prison, I was feelin' old school Chilly Willy: I was frozen through and through. I needed to come inside to a bubble bath, the December issue of Martha Stewart, and Amanda's excellent vintage Christmas music playlist. But what to drink? I had never made hot chocolate from scratch, so I looked around the Google for some recipes. There are 81 billion variations out there, but I just wanted plain sweet, hot yumminess. The result? Awesome.



1/3 C cocoa powder
1/2 C boiling water
1/2 C granulated sugar
pinch salt
3 C skim milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 C fat-free half and half

In medium pot over medium heat combine cocoa with boiling water until cocoa dissolves. Add sugar and salt, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture bubbles. Add milk, increasing heat to medium high. Heat until steaming, but not yet boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into four cups and top with fat-free half and half.

If you REALLY need to warm up, you could add a shot of Kahlua or Baileys. Not to say I did (it was perfect!), but you certainly could.