rain

With the advent of the rainy season comes hot chocolate and blankets.  It's easy to make hot chocolate without resorting to overly sweetened instant packets.

To make good hot chocolate, you have to start with good ingredients.  My favorite thus far is a semi-local company, Scharffenberger - they make both a sweetened and unsweetened cocoa powder.  Their sweetened cocoa powder isn't very sweet to my taste, so I tend to add a little sugar to that; I add more to the unsweetened (obviously).  I also like to add some solid chocolate (I generally use pieces off of Trader Joe's Pound Plus bars) - it adds a richness to the drink that enhances the flavor.

I typically do about 1-1.5c milk, 2-2.5 spoonfuls of sugar, 1 spoonful of unsweetened cocoa powder, and one piece of milk chocolate.  Heat it all together - microwave or stove, it makes no difference.  I have done it with less sugar, and dark instead of milk chocolate (or no added chocolate), among other modifications... depends on my mood and who I'm making it for :-)  If the cocoa powder is inferior, a bit of cream makes the difference.