Annarti's Hot Chocolate Mix
So as I've said, I'm frustrated with the lack of hot chocolate mixes not meant for kids on supermarket shelves. Every single one is 80-90% sugar. The best I've found has been Cadbury's, and that's still 79% sugar. That doesn't leave a lot of room for the chocolate part of your hot chocolate. You have to use a shitload of the stuff to even taste any cocoa in amongst all the sugar.
This recipe, therefore, is not for the sweet tooths (sweet teeth?). It's a little over half cocoa, as opposed to less than a quarter, and the other half is a roughly even spread between spices and sweetener-of-choice. It's pretty awesome.
The way I've worked out the values is based on your average 180g Aussie tin of cocoa. If you prefer to work in not-grams or your standard tins are different, use this handy calculator to work out the values. Stick in the weight of your tin (grams, ounces or frikking elephants, I don't care) and it'll tell you how many grams of all the other stuff you'll need to make a tin of awesome.
So here we go!
180g cocoa
-- Dutch cocoa, please. Regular cocoa doesn't have the right kick and you'll need twice as much to get the same effect. It gets gritty and horrible in the bottom of your mug =(
90g sweetener of choice
-- Granulated sugar works best in a mix, since it stays dry and doesn't clump. Brown sugar tastes nice and caramelly, raw sugar is healthier, honey is freaking awesome but you can't keep it in a powdered mix. Milo, for the Aussies (and, idk, maybe Poms can buy it too) is amazing but, of course, since it's only half sugar rather than full sugar, you'll need double of it to work properly. If you really need more than 90g of sugar... I pout at you =(
34g cinnamon
6g cloves
1g cayenne pepper
-- Grind that shit up. Especially the cloves and cayenne, even though they're pre-ground, attack those bastards with mortar and pestle. I'm not even kidding. These things don't dissolve, rather you're creating a suspension in your mug. If you don't grind them up, the cayenne will float to the top so you get a mouthful of the stuff when you first take a sip, and the cloves will drop to the bottom giving you a disgusting mouthful of cloves in your dregs. Powder it as best you can.
Also, don't test me on the cayenne. I'm yet to meet someone with a higher chilli tolerance than me, aside from my parents who lived in Indonesia for five years and hence got me onto chilli. Seriously, one gram of the stuff against your entire tin of cocoa. More than that doesn't ruin it and make it undrinkable, per say, but it'll mask the cinnamon and cloves.
vanilla extract, booze, marshmallows, whatever
-- Not part of the mix, but my god it's awesome if you add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the hot chocolate once you're done. Any of the sweet boozy things work wonders: Frangelico, Kaluah, brandy, GO WILD. Bailey's doesn't work, sadly, and Grand Marnier doesn't give the jaffa-like kick I was aiming for, but yaknow, give it a test if you want.
So you mix that all up with a spoon and keep it in an air-tight jar (or empty Cadbury's container as I'm doing). Bung your mug of milk in the microwave for however long suits you, add probably 2 heaped teaspoons of the stuff to your average mug (or a tablespoon and a half for my bloody big spider mug. That thing holds half a litre. You envy me) and mix it in really well. It won't dissolve as readily as your store-bought stuff because it's not 80% sugar, so be patient, do it right and you won't have a mouthful of WOWCINNAMON in amongst your drink of awesome.
Add your teaspoon of vanilla/booze/marshmallows/whatever, if you feel so inclined, settle back with a good book and just melt X)
This recipe, therefore, is not for the sweet tooths (sweet teeth?). It's a little over half cocoa, as opposed to less than a quarter, and the other half is a roughly even spread between spices and sweetener-of-choice. It's pretty awesome.
The way I've worked out the values is based on your average 180g Aussie tin of cocoa. If you prefer to work in not-grams or your standard tins are different, use this handy calculator to work out the values. Stick in the weight of your tin (grams, ounces or frikking elephants, I don't care) and it'll tell you how many grams of all the other stuff you'll need to make a tin of awesome.
So here we go!
180g cocoa
-- Dutch cocoa, please. Regular cocoa doesn't have the right kick and you'll need twice as much to get the same effect. It gets gritty and horrible in the bottom of your mug =(
90g sweetener of choice
-- Granulated sugar works best in a mix, since it stays dry and doesn't clump. Brown sugar tastes nice and caramelly, raw sugar is healthier, honey is freaking awesome but you can't keep it in a powdered mix. Milo, for the Aussies (and, idk, maybe Poms can buy it too) is amazing but, of course, since it's only half sugar rather than full sugar, you'll need double of it to work properly. If you really need more than 90g of sugar... I pout at you =(
34g cinnamon
6g cloves
1g cayenne pepper
-- Grind that shit up. Especially the cloves and cayenne, even though they're pre-ground, attack those bastards with mortar and pestle. I'm not even kidding. These things don't dissolve, rather you're creating a suspension in your mug. If you don't grind them up, the cayenne will float to the top so you get a mouthful of the stuff when you first take a sip, and the cloves will drop to the bottom giving you a disgusting mouthful of cloves in your dregs. Powder it as best you can.
Also, don't test me on the cayenne. I'm yet to meet someone with a higher chilli tolerance than me, aside from my parents who lived in Indonesia for five years and hence got me onto chilli. Seriously, one gram of the stuff against your entire tin of cocoa. More than that doesn't ruin it and make it undrinkable, per say, but it'll mask the cinnamon and cloves.
vanilla extract, booze, marshmallows, whatever
-- Not part of the mix, but my god it's awesome if you add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the hot chocolate once you're done. Any of the sweet boozy things work wonders: Frangelico, Kaluah, brandy, GO WILD. Bailey's doesn't work, sadly, and Grand Marnier doesn't give the jaffa-like kick I was aiming for, but yaknow, give it a test if you want.
So you mix that all up with a spoon and keep it in an air-tight jar (or empty Cadbury's container as I'm doing). Bung your mug of milk in the microwave for however long suits you, add probably 2 heaped teaspoons of the stuff to your average mug (or a tablespoon and a half for my bloody big spider mug. That thing holds half a litre. You envy me) and mix it in really well. It won't dissolve as readily as your store-bought stuff because it's not 80% sugar, so be patient, do it right and you won't have a mouthful of WOWCINNAMON in amongst your drink of awesome.
Add your teaspoon of vanilla/booze/marshmallows/whatever, if you feel so inclined, settle back with a good book and just melt X)