Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate Recipes. Disclaimer: I haven't tried any of them.

I did mix a packet of Swiss Miss Dark, Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate, and No Chewing Allowed Hot Chocolate with milk and some boiling water and it was yummy.

Hot Cocoa

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Make it Hot

City Bakery released its Hot Chocolate schedule. Which means braving the cold and snow to try out some of these yummy sounding flavors.


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Arctic Chill

By now, I'm sure everyone's heard of the Polar Vortex that's been bringing unusual cold to much of the US, and parts of Europe, too, I'm sure. Most of the time, I don't mind that my apartment is a bit drafty, but not so much today. The chill was a good excuse to get out the gift packet of maple flavored hot chocolate, turning brrrrr to yum.

Cup of Hot Chocolate

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A Most Festive Time of Year

Spent Thursday, well into the night, walking around midtown Manhattan with a friend, taking pics of the holiday decorations. The city looked especially festive this year.

Lighted Reindeer

Then home for some hot chocolate. I tried one of the packets I got as a gift from a friend:

Hot Chocolate Truffle Double Chocolate

Hot Chocolate

It says Hot Chocolate Truffle/Double Chocolate. It was very chocolatey, very creamy, even a bit thicker than the usual powder mix. It was also very yummy.

Friday, another friend and I saw "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug." I never read the book, so I'm coming into these movies cold, but I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait for the final chapter. This one ended in a definite cliffhanger.


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More Bacon

Another of my friends is also a bacon lover, so I told her about the delightful Baconery on Manhattan's Upper West Side and we met there for lunch. She had The Babe, which is the eggs, bacon, and cheese sandwich I had the first time I went there, and not being as hungry, I opted for the delicious Miss Piggy (Geez, that sounds awful, doesn't it? Poor Miss Piggy), which is a grilled cheese with bacon. Bacon is the main ingredient in these sandwiches, nice thick pieces of bacon with the eggs and/or cheese or whatnot added in almost as extras. Nothing can overwhelm the bacon flavor!

My friend's a coffee drinker and enjoyed her bacon-free coffee, while I had a hot chocolate, sans bacon this time because, really, the hot chocolate is so rich, it doesn't need anything else. I asked one of the owners about it (and I wish I'd gotten his name) and he said, no, no cinnamon in it, but it does have a kick which must come from the cocoa powder added to the chocolate.

I got a nicer photo of the hot chocolate this time. I also got a couple of bacon chocolate chip cookies to bring home.

Hot Chocolate

This is a fun, friendly, yummilicious cafe. I wish it was closer to where I live/easier for me to get to, but it's a nice excuse to visit a neighborhood I lived in for about a year in the '70s and where I enjoy strolling along the photogenic streets.

Feeling: sated


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The Joy of Bacon

I love bacon. It's one of my main food groups. My main food groups are:

• Chocolate
• Bacon
• Cheese
• Eggs
• Potatoes

Truly, these foods go with anything and can be prepared in myriad ways. So, how could a friend and I resist the lure of the Baconery? Located on Manhattan's Upper West Side, near Columbia University, the shop offers baked goods and sandwiches. We had sandwiches for lunch and I tried a bacon hot chocolate that was amazingly rich -- I'm sure I tasted cinnamon in it -- though the texture of bacon bits in the creamy liquid was weird. The salty bacon flavor worked well with the chocolate, however.

Hot Chocolate

I had the bacon on the side for the hot chocolate because I wanted to taste it pure before dumping in the bacon bits.

The Babe: Grilled Cheese/Egg/Bacon Sandwich

After, I bought a thick bacon chocolate chip cookie which I ate today. Again, there was the textural aspect to get used to, but the flavor was rich and divine. The chips were still melty and a nice, rich dark chocolate. The bacon bits were nice chewy pieces.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookie

They also went, uh, whole hog on the decor.

BaCoN Pillow

I'll be paying the Baconery a return visit!

Feeling: sated

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The Joy of Maple Flavoring

A friend sent me a packet of maple flavored hot chocolate for the holidays and I tried it this week.

Maple Flavored Hot Chocolate

It's not all that robust, but the maple flavor is definitely noticeable and the beverage has a nice, smooth taste. I'm not a fan of spiced hot chocolate, which tends to make me cough, so this was a chance to have an alternative to simple hot chocolate made with only chocolate flavor. If you're a maple syrup addict the way I am, and a chocoholic the way I clearly am, you'd probably like this. I just wish I'd had mini marshmallows to toss in.

Feeling: satisfied

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Chocolate Lives in Brooklyn

Spent a delightful afternoon in Brooklyn with a couple of friends, walking around, enjoying the sights, having great pizza for lunch, and stopping in at Jacques Torres chocolate. Of course, the one photo I really wanted to show you all didn't come out -- too blurry -- but the rest look good. The one that didn't was a pic of chocolate spoons with a sign that said:

"Chocolate spoon--A spoonful of chocolate helps the medicine go down."

Yummy Pizza

Jacques Torres

Chocolate Fishies

Hot Chocolate

Piggy Chocolate

Chocolate Cows

A Variety of Chocolate

We tasted a bit of Wicked Hot Chocolate (just a hint of spice), which was a bit odd for a day when it was pushing 80 degrees F. The stuff was amazing, though, well worth a bit of extra warmth.

All in all, a lovely day. Even if it felt like summer instead of spring. :)

Feeling: content

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Frozen Hot Chocolate

I saw this Frozen Hot Chocolate on Bored Blog Almighty. I might have to try it.

Feeling: still achy

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Hot Chocolate Redux

The Huffington Post reviewed NY Hot Chocolates. The only one of the list I've really tried and enjoyed was from La Maison du Chocolat. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to hot chocolate. I don't like it spiced and I don't like it too thick or too creamy/milky. There is clearly a lot out there to choose from.

Feeling: tired

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Nunu Hot Chocolate Review

I tried the little pack of Nunu Hot Chocolate I bought on Monday. The instructions said it could be made with milk or water, so I used both, same as I do with other hot chocolate mixes.

It had a nice, rich flavor, but it was bits of chocolate and they didn't melt smoothly, leaving bits in the hot chocolate, which if you like that sort of thing, is fine. I don't like texture in beverages. I don't drink orange juice with pulp, for instance. If you don't mind texture in your hot chocolate, or you're better at blending than I am, you'll probably enjoy this. The flavor is just right.

Feeling: lethargic

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Gimme Hot Chocolate

Too tired to come up with words, so just enjoy the photo.

Feeling: tired

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Snow Day

Breakfast of Champions, or probably just Breakfast of Chocoholics.

Work was called on account of snow. Woohoo!

Feeling: happy

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For the Cold Times

There's a bit of a chill tonight, and the wind is howling, so I figured some hot chocolate was in order.

Feeling: tired

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Chocolate to Warm the Soul

I usually have Swiss Miss Rich Hot Chocolate laced with a spoonful of Ghiradelli hot chocolate, but they were out of the Swiss Miss a few supermarket trips ago, so we got a box of Hershey's Special Dark Hot Cocoa Mix and it definitely doesn't need enhancement. I had it with a spoonful of Ghiradelli the other night and without the Ghiradelli tonight and it was just fine by itself, plus a couple of spoons of milk which I always add to hot chocolate mix for more creaminess.

There weren't too many packets in the box, so this will be used up sooner than a box of Swiss Miss would be, but it's well worth the expense. Just the thing a chocoholic needs on a cold night.

Feeling: satisfied

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