Advent Day 13

" Take a wintery walk, then make homemade hot cocoa"

Wintery walk - check, it's been downpouring rain and streaming cold for days. And we essentially live on a big college campus so we have our choice of paths and botanical gardens and such.
Homemade hot cocoa, yes please. In lieu of my beloved Cadbury instant hot chocolate (Please Kraft, cease and desist your hostile takeover bid for Cadbury, the future of good chocolate on a mass scale depends on it!) or my only a little less loved Abuelita Mexican hot chocolate, I relied on this recipe, pinched directly from this book:

Chai Hot Cocoa with Whipped Cream

3 C Milk
1 C water
3 T cocoa powder
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cardamom pods
1/2 t ground ginger
3 cloves
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 t vanilla extract or vanilla bean
4 oz bittersweet chocolate

Combine everything except bittersweet chocolate in a medium saucepan and heat until scalding. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes, then strain.

In same saucepan, melt chocolate and add steeped, spiced milk. Sitr for five minutes until chocolate is melted.

Pour into 4 mugs and serve, as I did, with Cinnamon whipped cream.

The toddler member of the family thought it very fine, even after suffering the indignity of being stripped to her bare torso, donning a bib and the eventual transference of said cocoa to a sippy cup.