North of the Border

If there's one thing about winter that we can get excited about it's hot chocolate-- drinking it from a paper cup on the street or from a mug cozy on the couch. Either way, it has to be made from scratch.

I usually use dutch cocoa, but the alluring packaging of Taza Mexican Chocolate inspired me to try something different. I didn't know this, but Mexican hot chocolate is traditionally made with water. Since we prefer milk, I used skim to maintain a thin consistency. It also takes a bit more work to make than I expected. The discs have to be finely grated and gradually added to hot milk, then continually whisked for 2 minutes straight. The result did not disappoint... the hot chocolate was rich, but not too sweet, with a perfect frothy head of foam.