Hot cocoa recipe: Hot chili cocoa

While up here on the Northern hemisphere it's as hot as it gets, on the other side of the earth it's winter already. And very often, during the cold winter days, drinking something hot is one of the best ways of getting warm quickly. Apart from tea and soup, one of the popular choices is hot cocoa.

But what if we made the hot cocoa even hotter?

This winter, I tried different combinations of hot cocoa and several flavours and spices. Out of curiosity, I bought a small bottle of almond essence. If you've ever eaten raw peach or apricot pits, that is how it's like. Bitter and with a very strong aroma.

I must admit I didn't like it at first, but since I was stuck with it, I tried to come up with a good twist for my almond hot cocoa. I found the answer in one of the oldest cocoa drinking traditions: adding hot chili.

Surprisingly, it was invigorating and warmed me right up. It burns the throat a bit, but you can make it milder.

Hot chili cocoa
 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar or 1 big teaspoon honey
• a few drops of almond extract
• a dash of hot chili powder

Ok, let's get brewing!

1. Heat the water until it is hot. In a cup, mix the ingredients: the cocoa, the sugar or honey, almond extract and chili powder. Don't put too much almond extract or chili powder at first, they can be quite a shocking blend.
2. Add a little water in the cup and stir it up.
3. Add the rest of the water and stir a little more. Enjoy!

Recipe. Roast chicken with tomato sauce

I had been a vegetarian since 2nd grade. Ever since Scorp moved in, him being a big carnivore, I've had to learn how to cook meat as well. One of my "specialties" is roast chicken in the oven with tomato sauce.

Roast chicken with tomato sauce
 

 
Ingredients:

• chicken: any piece or amount; you can use a whole chicken or legs or wings, whichever you like
• tomato paste
• a small onion
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1 spoon chopped parsley
• salt, pepper, chili (if you like) and other spices you prefer with chicken (I recommend rosemary)
• 2-3 laurel leaves
• optionally, 2-3 medium-sized potatoes
•  ½ cup dry white wine

Before we begin:

• As you can see, a lot of my recipes are versatile and you can adapt them in a number of ways. Remember though that, the bigger the chicken pieces, the longer they have to stay in the oven to cook thoroughly.
• The shape and size of the pan are important too. If you want a crispy outer skin, use a wide pan and put only a little water. If you want it softer, use a narrow pan and lots of water for the sauce, to cover the meat. You can also stash the pieces one on top of the other, they won't mind. Just remember to put spices on all of them. You can also use a covered pot and they will get ready faster, in a steamy kind of way.
• Always put enough water in the pan so you don't burn it. Charred tomato sauce isn't really tasty.
• A big mistake some of us do about ovens is assuming the food stops cooking as soon as we turn the fire off. The oven will stay hot for quite a while and, if you're not careful, you might overcook the food.
• The wine can be omitted, but it gives the chicken a nice flavour.

Ok, let's get cooking!

1. Pre-heat the oven.
2. In the meantime, wash the chicken, taking care of any feathers that it might have on it.
   
   
3. Arrange the chicken in a pan. If you're adding potatoes, peel them and cut them into cubes and put them next to the chicken. Then sprinkle the spices on everything. Break the laurel leaves in half and put them around the chicken.
4. Clean and finely chop the onion and garlic and also sprinkle it on the chicken.
   
   
5. In a cup, mix about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and some water, then carefully put it over the chicken, little by little, careful not to knock the spices off it. After that, pour the wine and some water in the pan for the sauce.
   
   
6. Put the pan in the oven and let it cook. If you're making a whole chicken, it would take approximately 1½ hours, if you're making smaller pieces, about 1 hour. You can turn everything around too, if you want, but it's not really necessary. To make sure it's ready, cut a bit into the thickest parts of the meat; it should be white, not pink. The potatoes should soften up.
7. At the end, take it out of the oven and serve hot, preferably with a side dish of potatoes (if they're not in there already) and a salad. Enjoy!
   
   

Hot cocoa recipe: Vanilla hot cocoa

I used to have a lot of hot chocolate when I was smaller, usually with milk. I always preferred the premade mix to making it from scratch, because I always thought cocoa was too bland and raspy.

Now that my mom has moved in with us, she of course bought some hot chocolate packs. The new flavour? Cinnamon. It was however quite dreadful and I thought I'd make my own.

So, I bought some cocoa and vanilla extract. I always have cinnamon around (it's my favourite spice for sweets), so that would surely go into the mix. Mother also had two kinds of honey.

All in all, this is the first and simplest hot cocoa recipe I came up with. I will add more later.

Vanilla hot cocoa

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water or milk
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar or 1 big teaspoon honey
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• a dash of cinnamon powder

Before we begin:

• You might have heard that I live in Romania; here, the vanilla comes as extract or as vanilla sugar. The cinnamon only comes as powder. Unless you're a hypermarket goer, unlike me...
• Do not use tap water if you live in Romania. Unless you're blessed with clean water without chlorine. We buy bottled water.
• Different honey types taste differently. Try them out first to see if you like them.

Ok, let's get brewing!

1. Heat up the water or milk until it is quite hot but not boiling. The water should start making small bubbles and the milk will get a thin film on top.
   
   
2. In the meantime, scoop the rest of the ingredients in a cup or mug. If you want, stir them all slightly. This helps the honey in particular, as it mixes with the rest of the ingredients.
3. When the water or milk is ready, pour only a little in the mug. It should be enough to barely cover the ingredients. After this, stir until you get a sort of paste. Homogeneity is the key. If you don't do this, you might have chunks of cocoa floating around later.
4. Pour in the rest of the liquid and stir some more. Voila! I know, it's simple. But it's been keeping me warm on long cold nights of work.