From mochas to lattes, the office coffee pot to the local Starbucks, coffee is a popular beverage first thing in the morning, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or a great way to stay alert with dessert. In December, coffee becomes even more exciting as all kinds of limited-time-only seasonal coffee flavors and creamers begin to show up from gingerbread to white chocolate with peppermint.
And even though I’m normally a huge coffee-buff, I have to admit, for me, nothing beats a delicious cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter day. But your regular old coco mix, no that just won’t cut it. No. Real December hot cocoa calls for real chocolate, real sugar, whole milk and some real cream!
So, loving to cook, bake, and experiment with food. I decided to seek out the best hot cocoa recipe that I could find. I searched on the internet and found two hot chocolate recipes that made my mouth water!
The first recipe is from the Food Network by The Barefoot Contessa: Hot Cocoa
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder (add this, Coffee-lovers, for the best of both worlds!)
- 4 to 5 vanilla beans or cinnamon sticks, for garnish
Directions:
Heat the milk and half-and-half in a saucepan on medium heat to just below the simmering point. Remove the pan from the heat and add both chocolates. When the chocolates are melted, add the sugar, vanilla extract, and espresso and whisk vigorously. Reheat gently and serve immediately. Use a vanilla bean or cinnamon stick to garnish each serving.
The second recipe is from All Recipes.com by Diana S: Snow Flake Hot Cocoa
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 6 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 (12 ounce) package white chocolate chips
- Garnish:
- Whipped cream
- Candy canes
Directions:
1. Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and white chocolate chips in a slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted. Stir again before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and candy canes, as desired.
Digitally Scrap Your Hot Cocoa Recipes!
I always take photos of each food or drink-creation that I make. I love making my own cookbooks and recipe books filled with recipes that I love and real photos of the cooking process or final results!
My mom and I started our own tradition of calling each other once a week and making a new recipe together on the phone. This is a great way for us to have fun together, talk, and learn how to make new dishes together since we live so far away from one another. If you’re far away from your parents, children, or a close friend, give them a call and start this tradition with someone special too! It’s a lot of fun!
Like this scrap page? Get Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Let It Snow Digital Scrapbooking Kit and make your own digital winter wonderland with Hot Coco images!
See Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Holiday Kits for other holiday supplies!
After we make lots of new dishes or desserts, my mom and I love to transform our favorite recipes and food photos into digitally scrapped cookbook pages! It’s easy to email recipes to other friends and family when you have a pretty scrapped page turned into a PDF. And it sure does get good reactions too! A special scrapped recipe with real photos of the food (or better yet, pics of you cooking the food or with the final masterpiece is all the more exciting!) is a great way to share a favorite dish.
Like this scrap page? Get Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Christmas Elegance Kit! Or see Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Holiday Kits for other holiday supplies!
Make Personalized Scrap Cookbooks for Holiday Gifts!
For the holidays, give a special someone who loves to cook a personalized scrap cookbook! Scrap a cookbook filled with mom’s best recipes, or a cookbook filled with special holiday desserts. I have Celiac Disease, which means I eat entirely gluten-free (and so does my sister), so I could wrap up a beautiful scrapped cookbook for my sis filled with tried & true gluten-free goodie recipes!
Try some of the Holiday Scrap Kits that have recipe cards right in the kit too for these special scrapbooking cookbooks!
Like the Christmas Polka Dots Digital Scrapbooking Kit 2 which is a fun holiday kit designed with adorable Christmas-flare and includes recipe cards for scrapping holiday recipes! Mix and match papers, supplies, for wonderful Christmas Scrapbooking projects! This kit is easy to make a recipe album or Holiday Journaling project – with this easy-to-print-at-home kit! (8.5×11″ paper size)
Use Quick Pages to really speed up your scrapbooking projects!
Check out this Quick Page scrapbooking kit with recipe cards to make your Holiday Scrapbooking Cookbook very fast and easy! The Christmas Polka Dots Quick Page Digital Scrapbooking Kit 4 includes pre-designed holiday Quick Pages so you can create Christmas digital scrapbooking projects quickly! This format and design is perfect for holiday recipe books. With Quick Pages all you have to do to finish this scrap page is add your photos, and you’re basically finished! 8.5×11″ home printing paper size) Includes 5 Quick Pages and 9 Bonus WordArt of Holiday Cooking Words! This kit has a cover page and each of the other 4 Quick Pages has a place for you to write your favorite Holiday recipe!
Learn Digital Scrapbooking Today and Start your Holiday Scrap Cookbook Project too!
Take Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Getting Started Series beginner’s digital scrapbooking training and learn digital scrapbooking to make your own digital scrapbooking albums… or cookbooks with yummy recipes like hot cocoa!
Give new recipes a try this year, and make them into special holiday keepsakes for yourself, friends, and family this year!
Happy Holidays,
Jennifer
