Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I read about these fantastic-looking treats on a chat forum and followed a link that took me to this blog. Giver's Log has a lot of beautiful, wonderful gift ideas. I'm really excited to give these hot chocolate sticks to people for the winter holidays. My mom and sister were really impressed with how they turned out.

I used old-fashioned hard plastic ice cube trays and had a hard time getting the chocolate out of them. If you twist the tray too soon, the chocolate will crack, and let's just say 2 of my chocolate cubes had to be sacrificed to the "greater good". I'll bet those new-fangled silicone ones would be much easier, plus they come in very fun shapes. Giver's Log featured ones made in a long stick mold which would be perfect!

I packaged mine in cellophane bags and filled the bag with abotu 10 mini marshmallows.

Be sure to use decent quality chocolate. I used Swiss dark chocolate, Belgian milk chocolate, and a very good white chocolate (Green & Black's).

I crushed some candy-canes to a peppermint hot chocolate, chopped up some candied ginger for a slightly spicy hot chocolate, and of course left some plain for the purists.



Here's what you'll need!
(I ended up with 12 cubes)

Heat proof glass bowl (like pyrex)
Medium sized saucepan that the bowl can sit on
Wooden stir sticks or spoons if you can find them.

Ingredients:

300g of good quality chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
50g of good quality chocolate for dipping the cubes in (optional)
toppings, like crushed candy cane, chopped candied ginger, spices, etc. (optional)

Method

1. Chop chocolate into meltable pieces. Simmer a couple of inches of water in a pan and place glass bowl over the top to make a double boiler. Be sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water beneath it. Be sure to check the waterto make sure it stays at a simmer. Dump chocolate into the clean, dry bowl and stir as the chocolate melts.
2. Once the chocolate is 2/3 melted, with just some pieces of the chocolate unmelted, remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring until chocolate is fully melted.
3. Add cocoa, sugar, and salt and continue to stir until combined.
4. Lift the bowl off the pan and use a towel to dry off any drips of water. Using 2 spoons, spoon the chocolate into the ice cube tray (about 2 spoonfuls per cube)
   
5. Tap the ice cube tray on the counter to make sure all the chocolate settles into the mold. Add a stir stick and you’re done. The stir stick should stay upright without any trouble.

Let the chocolate cool at room temperature for 3 or more hours. Resist the urge to poke or twist the ice tray!

To remove, wiggle the stir stick slightly and give a gentle tug. If it really seems stuck, jab a sharp paring knife between the chocolate and the mold wall.

I had air bubbles in some of mine so I melted white chocolate to dip the cubes in for a snow-topped look. You can place these in a tall mug, stick down (of course) for the the topping to dry.

To enjoy, stir 1 stick of chocolate in a cup of very hot milk.

Giver's Log attached lovely tags to the stir sticks. Great idea!

Best insulated hot beverage mug... evahhhhh!!!!

I am a BYO-kind of gal. So when sports bottles, Nalgenes, plastic mugs and stuff became really popular, it was a fun time for me. I love getting the whole 5 or 10 cents off your drink at Starbucks or wherever. One less cup in the trash... Although maybe the amount of water and soap I use to clean out my reusable mug isn't so earth-friendly...

Anyway, I'm here to write about Thermos-brand Urban Elements Insulated Beverage Container. I believe I got if for Christmas one year from my sis and her bf and believe me when I tell you just how excited I was. It's a sleek, cool, chocolate brown container that you can sip straight from, rather than using the lid as a cup.

Ta-da~~~~~~!!!



It has a snap button and wire-thingy so the lid won't pop open in your bag.



This light blue rubber squishy part seals off all the holes so no leaks!


It claims to be able to keep beverages hot for 12 hours and I believe it! There have been days where I've filled it up with hot coffee at about 8 am, left it on my desk and by noon, the coffee is still burn-your-tongue scalding hot. I've also put boiling water in it at night and drank it first thing the next morning (maybe 7 hours later?) and it wasn't scalding hot but it was impressively hot.

I thought I had left it on a bus once and almost cried. Phew! It was just in the bottom of my bag. This truly is something I use everyday and wonder how I ever survivied without one.

Oh, my mom wanted one too, so I got her one for her birthday :) They're not cheap, but if you like to drink hot beverages throughout the day and would like a handy container you can just fill up and toss in your bag (and I do mean "toss". I've had this thing upside down in my bag under books while on the bus!) I will say I think you'll find the $30 + price to be a worthy investment.

The morning after nettle leaf tea

I drank the nettle leaf tea after dinner and lo-and-behold, I slept through the night without getting up to pee! This stuff will be a godsend on weeknights :) Love it!

Teas I Like...

This is the first weekend where I haven't had anything planned (not going across the border) so I checked the weather forecast religiously over the last week to see whether it'd be sunny or not. It's sunny!!! (Happy sunny dance)

There's a health food store called "Nutraways" in Kerrisdale I've been meaning to get to and with the weather being so nice, I decided to walk the 45 some-odd minutes there. I found some great loose teas there. I got a bag of dried chamomile and a big bag of nettle leaf.

Chamomile, as I'm sure everyone knows, is really helpful for proper digestion. Proper digestion, as my naturopath taught me, is the key to being healthy. My current health issue is eczema. I had it as a child, it went away for my teens and early 20's, then decided to come back and kick my butt a few years back. Through VEGA (sp?) testing, blood pictures, and a LOT of visits to Dr. M, I learned how to help my body digest better. One of the things I can do is drink chamomile tea.

Nettle leaf is good for the bladder. Since the whole health kick, I've been taking supplements (some of them I have to take at night) and drinking my weight in water. This makes me wake up in the middle of the night to pee all the time! Drinking nettle leaf will help "irrigate" the bladder and hopefully let me get some sleep!