Farmers Cottage Hot Chocolate

There are certain things in life that simply make you smile. Personally, a mug of classic hot chocolate is one of these things. My wife and I were watching The Holiday a couple of weeks ago and there was a scene where Jude Laws character (Graham) makes a batch of hot chocolate for his children. This scene immediately inspired me to make my own batch and so without hesitation I travelled to the local store to get the required ingredients. Talking about going down a rabbit hole and getting sidetracked! Not only did I not finish the movie but I ended up spending far too much time looking for the perfect block of Scharffen Berger chocolate that was simply unobtainable in my small home town.  After my search failed to yield acceptable results I ended up settling for a block of plain Cadbury Chocolate instead.  Whatever the outcome of my search the batch I made was simply divine and I have since become a firm believer in the magic of hot chocolate. I now believe that a good cup of hot chocolate is like opening a flood valve of happiness straight to the heart. In todays world, with todays current issues, I now believe that if it makes you smile how bad could it possibly be?
Imagine for a moment that you have a mug of hot chocolate right this moment. Now look past the calories, past the fat content, past the sugar and look at what you have in your hands! The ingredients that went into making this mug of bliss very likely came from all over the world. The cacao most likely came from West Africa although the plant itself originated in Mexico, the sugar, if bought in Australia, most likely came from the cane fields in northern Queensland. The Marshmallows definitely came from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and the milk probably came from a diary farmer not too far from where you live. The fact that we live in a world that can supply all these products on demand is simply magic. But the true magic happens in your kitchen when you mix all these ingredients together! This is how I make my batches of smile inducing hot chocolate. 

The Ingredients. 

Cacao (note this is not Cocoa, Cacao is raw and unprocessed chocolate powder) - 6 tablespoons
Sugar (white or brown) - 4 tablespoons.
Cadbury chocolate (white or brown) - 1 block (broken into squares)
Marshmallows (white or pink or both) - 24 pieces
Full Cream Milk - 6 Cups
Whipped Cream (A can is fine)
Tap Water - 1 - 1/2 cups

The Process

​For this batch it is advisable to use a large saucepan, after all you will be making a batch of Hot Chocolate that will fill five to six mugs!

1 - Put and the saucepan on the stove top and add the 1 and a half cups of water to it. Turn on the heat. 
2 - As the water begins to simmer add the 6 tablespoons of cacao to the water. Use a whisk to dissolve the cacao completely being sure to leave no lumps. 
3 - Keep the water and cacao mix simmering (not boiling) as you add the four table spoons of sugar. Continue to whisk the mixture to dissolve the sugar.
4- Now that the basics of the mix are dissolved it is time to add the six cups of milk. Keep heating the mix until it is simmering (do not boil, no-one enjoys mouth scolding hot chocolate). 
5 - Allow the mixture to reheat. Now that the heat has returned to the mixture it is time to add the squares of chocolate. Keep one row of the chocolate to be grated (for later use), the remainder of the block can be broken into squares and placed into the hot mix.
6- Continue to stir the mixture so that the chocolate pieces dissolve throughout. This may take several minutes to occur. It is advisable not to boil the mixture as boiling hot milk can lead to the mixture boiling over and onto you stove top. Your hot chocolate experience will gain nothing of value from doing this so it is advisable to watch your mix and keep it hot but not boiling!
7 - Now that your mixture is hot it is time to add the mix to your mugs leaving about one inch of space at the top.
8 - Add six marshmallows to each of the cups, they will float on the surface. 
9 - Add the whipped cream to the top of the marshmallows, spiralling the cream around to make a peak.
10 - Dust the top of the whipped cream with a pinch of cacao powder and add the grated chocolate!

Congratulations are now in order! Your have completed your batch of hot chocolate! Prepare for chocolate induced smiles and enjoy!