A quick housekeeping announcement:
Congratulations to Tara, who won the cookie spatula giveaway from last week! Please email your address to FoodieMisadventures(at)gmail(dot)com so I can get it in the mail to you!
Just in case you enjoyed that clip last week as much as I did, here is episode 2:
After the first one I wasn’t sure there would actually be more things that I say/do…oh boy was I wrong..
Other breaking news:
I finally got a flashy new pair of running shoes! Hooray! Mine were 4+ years old, so it’s a miracle that I didn’t break a foot while running in them. They are PureCadence by Brooks – from their new minimalist shoe line. I figured I’d try out this new minimalist shoe thing :) Either way they feel like heaven on my feet.
A somewhat helpful tip for those who shop at Road Runner Sports – their VIP program only costs $2 to sign up online, but costs $20 in the store, I highly recommend signing up before you go (or do it on your phone in the store like I did!). Its so worth it for the discounts you get.
I first made this hot chocolate mix last year and fell in love with it. I ended up packaging it up with my other holiday goodies that I give out to friends and family, and it seemed to be a hit! I made it again this year to include with the packages, but was smart and saved a little for myself :)
This isn’t your standard cocoa mix, I like to think of it as gourmet hot chocolate. I think they are a couple key things that make this mix really delicious. The first is the use of vanilla sugar - heck any time you use vanilla sugar it’s almost a guarantee it will be good. Second there is the copious amount of good quality chocolate that is ground mixed in with the powder. And last, it’s the use of Dutch process cocoa powder. If you can’t find Dutch process, I would say that the Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder is an acceptable alternative.
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients:
2 vanilla beans
4 cups granulated sugar
24 oz high-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
9 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups Dutch process cocoa
Directions:
Split and scrape vanilla beans and place in a large bowl or jar with the sugar. Work seeds into the sugar with your fingers. Bury the pods under the sugar. Cover tightly and let stand overnight (or up to months--vanilla sugar keeps forever) at room temperature.
In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process semisweet chocolate and dark chocolate until finely ground, using 4-second pulses.
Remove pod from sugar. Add ground chocolate and cocoa powder to sugar and whisk to blend, making sure to combine well. Store mix airtight at room temperature for up to six months. Yields about 76 2-tablespoon servings
To serve: heat 2 Tbsp of mix with 8 oz of milk over medium heat.
Recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride
This would be so fun to make and jar as a gift!
ReplyDeleteThe new video is awesome! That awkward pause towards the end was amazing-it reminded me of a phone call I recently had with a supervisor and the phone was creating this long awkward pause between our resonses. We ended up starting every sentence with 'If you are still here...'
ReplyDelete