Friday, December 7, 2007

Holiday Drink Guide: Spiked Hot Chocolate

For Christmas last year, my baby brother got me a very large bottle of Frangelico. He was rather furtive about it even though we are both above the age of 21 (some of us, well above) and giving gifts of alcohol is perfectly legal. But I digress...I happen to really like Frangelico, with its funny shaped bottle of a distinctly monkish form. In an effort to find a suitable use for this very delicious liquor I came across a timelessly classic drink: Spiked Hot Chocolate.


Hazelnut+alchohol+chocolate. How can you go wrong?


spiked hot chocolate
adapted from Bon Appétit | November 2002

Warming and full of holiday cheer.

Serves 2.

ingredients
1/2 cup chilled whipping cream

6 tablespoons Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa
a splash of water
2 cups whole milk
2-3 ounces Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
Grated semisweet chocolate


preparation
Beat cream in medium bowl until peaks form.

Add water to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Gradually add cocoa, whisking until mixture is smooth. Gradually whisk in milk and bring to a simmer. Divide hot chocolate between two mugs. Stir 1-2 ounces of liqueur into each mug. Top each with dollop of whipped cream, then sprinkle with grated chocolate.


Then I figured, why stop there? Taking the easy Devil's food cake recipe (see previous posting) I decided to add some Frangelico to the batter, the icing AND the accompanying whipped cream. A little sprinkling of cracked hazelnuts on top and voila, a chocolate Frangelico masterpiece!

For those of you looking for a low-cal version of this dessert, you won't find it here. Although, I would recommend sticking with the hot chocolate sans-whipped cream because that's just too good to pass up!

~flutterbyblue

2 comments:

Alpaca Granny said...

Oh, my, all this sounds awesome. BUT I have a Weight Watchers weigh in on Tuesday. Hmmmm, wonder if I could walk it off????

flutterbyblue said...

It was very delicious!!! I find using non-fat milk for the hot chocolate is still very very good. And I bet you could add the Frangelico to any low calorie chocolate cake recipe and it would add a very nice hazelnut flavor!