I've mentioned that lately we're trying to stretch and save and generally be economical. Which, I've come to realize, does not necessarily encompass the nightly drinking of 12-oz mugs of hot chocolate made from huge amounts of chocolate and cupsful of raw organic milk. Luckily, we recently bought those teeny espresso cups, which makes downsizing any beverage seem chic and fun! Not wanting to feel deprived, however, I thought we'd better amp up the flavor experience to give our tastebuds more bang for their buck.
Remember Chantico? I only ever had it once. I don't think it was around for long. It's interesting to compare the tone of that article, in which Starbucks postulates that people will pretty much never eat a cookie or candy bar again now that Chantico is in town, with this one, which is about getting rid of Chantico because it was a flop. The gist of it seems to be that people didn't like it because you couldn't customize it. But how, exactly, would you improve on perfection?
Well, you'd make it at home, for one. I looked for a recipe online, but the one I found had corn syrup and sugar and a bunch of other weird and unnecessary ingredients. So I improvised. Here's what I used in mine:
Remember Chantico? I only ever had it once. I don't think it was around for long. It's interesting to compare the tone of that article, in which Starbucks postulates that people will pretty much never eat a cookie or candy bar again now that Chantico is in town, with this one, which is about getting rid of Chantico because it was a flop. The gist of it seems to be that people didn't like it because you couldn't customize it. But how, exactly, would you improve on perfection?
Well, you'd make it at home, for one. I looked for a recipe online, but the one I found had corn syrup and sugar and a bunch of other weird and unnecessary ingredients. So I improvised. Here's what I used in mine:
Ultra-Rich Hot Chocolate3/4 cup whole milk
2-3 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Combine, heat, and stir. (You can use the stove or the microwave; I was feeling lazy and used the microwave.) Yield: ~4- 2 oz shots.
The effect is something syrupy, incredibly rich, and best served a little hotter than just warm. For extra effect, I chopped up a couple of marshmallows real tiny and popped those in there too. Delicious!
If you did feel the need to customize, you could also throw in a pinch of cinnamon, or cayenne, or a drop of peppermint oil. And how cute would it be to serve it with one of those tiny candy canes?!
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