hot chocolate recipe

Tyrell’s Special Hot Chocolate Recipe

/ sandramervillehart / 3 Comments

Today’s post is written by talented author and dear friend, Carole Brown. I’ve enjoyed reading her cozy mysteries and can’t wait to read this one!

I love a man who cooks!

No matter whether it’s from the past (historical) or present day, there’s something manly and mannerly about that person. Western men usually knew how to prepare the basics: just enough to keep him alive, at least. In the military, many service people know that being able to cook is a necessity and at times a life saver. Today, I know many men who cook and enjoy it.

In writing With Music in Their Hearts, giving my male protagonist the ability to cook foods like scrambled eggs and hot chocolate would be an intimate detail about him that branched the difference in the way Tyrell and Emma Jaine were brought up and also set up a cozy setting for the fun action in the scene. When they come in from being outside, Tyrell offers to make hot chocolate for them.

Tyrell’s Special Hot Chocolate Recipe

1 large cup milk or water

1 Tablespoon of honey

1 Tablespoon of dark syrup, such as maple syrup

A pinch of salt

4-9 chocolate kisses (or about the same size of chocolate bits)

Optional: a dab of peppermint or stir with a peppermint stick

Pour chocolate drink in cup after heating on low fire.

Enjoy!

-Carole Brown

About Carole Brown

Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. She loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?

Connect with Carole on her personal blog.

With Music in Their Hearts Blurb:

Angry at being rejected for military service, Minister Tyrell Walker accepts the call to serve as a civilian spy within his own country and searches for a murdering spy at the boarding house red-haired  Emma Jaine Rayner runs. Sparks of jealousy and love fly between them even as they battle suspicions that one or the other is not on the up and up.

Will their love survive the danger and personal issues that arise to hinder the path of true love?

Amazon

 

 

Making Hot Chocolate from Scratch the Old-Fashioned Way

/ sandramervillehart / 4 Comments

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The authors of an 1877 cookbook wrote instructions for preparing hot chocolate. There is no mention of adding sugar so it seems they drank unsweetened hot chocolate. I’m sure this was healthier but doesn’t sound tasty.

Here’s the recipe:

Dissolve six tablespoons of scraped chocolate or three tablespoons of scraped chocolate and three tablespoons of cocoa in a quart of boiling water. Bring the chocolate mixture to a hard boil for fifteen minutes.

Add one quart of milk. Heat to scalding, then serve while hot. This serves six.

I decided to make hot chocolate the old-fashioned way.

I used Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate, boiled in water for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. The water thickened to a thin gravy consistency and may have been much thicker had it boiled longer.

I added milk and heated the mixture to scalding, stirring frequently to prevent it from sticking to the pot.

The drink looked very tempting. Though I don’t even like unsweetened tea, I tried it. In my opinion, hot chocolate tastes better with sugar. I added a teaspoon of sugar. Much better but not sweet enough for my taste.

I ended up adding two and a half teaspoons of sugar to my mug of hot chocolate.

I think this would be a fun activity with your children or at a fall party when the weather cools. It will be fun to see how much sugar/sweetener that each person requires for the perfect cup of hot chocolate.

-Sandra Merville Hart

 

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 2011.