I’m not sure why packets of hot chocolate mix contain so many ingredients, when a rich and creamy hot chocolate can be easily made at home with just three. Leave that Alpine lady up in the slopes and warm up against winter’s chill using my no-measure method. [Don’t worry, I’ve included precise measurements as well, for those who prefer that.] Also, you can’t tell from the photo, but you’re actually looking at Chai Spice Hot Chocolate (recipe in the NOTES & TIPS section below).

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk

TOOLS
standard (11-ounce) mug
tablespoon
milk pan, or small (1-quart) pot

METHOD
1. Measure out milk by pouring into mug until about three-quarters full. Pour milk from mug into pan over medium heat.
2. Scoop 1 spoonful sugar and 2 spoonfuls cocoa powder into empty mug. Mix well.
3. Stir milk occasionally with spoon, until milk is scalded – about 8 minutes.
4. With one hand, slowly pour pan of scalded milk into prepared mug, while stirring mixture in mug quickly with spoon in your other hand, until sweetened cocoa has fully dissolved into the milk.

NOTES & TIPS
• “Tablespoon” in TOOLS section above refers to the larger spoon in a flatware collection, not the measuring spoon kind (though that works equally well).
• Milk pan (aka butter warmer) = small (1-quart) pot with a pour spout
• If you’re not good at eyeballing it, “three-quarters full” on a standard mug is about the same level as where the handle is attached to the (upper) body of the mug.
• Scalded milk = milk heated to just below boiling.
• BONUS RECIPE: Chai Spice Hot Chocolate: Add 1/2 teaspoon chai spice during Step 1.

READY IN
10 minutes

YIELD
1 serving