Unexpected snow day? Trying to delay the inevitable gear yourself up for shoveling? Polar explorers drank hot chocolate to keep up their morale and stamina. This magical brew can offer the sustenance you need to tackle virile challenges. “But I’ll have to shovel my way out to get to Starbucks,” you say? Relax. I’m here to save you.

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Hot Chocolate, Food of the Gods

Manning a kitchen involves the curation of recipes. When I’m not searing meat, or buttering buns, or cursing a box of plastic wrap, I’m surfing the net in search of kick-ass recipes. Welcome to miLam’s Curated Exhibits series.

Jump to Improv

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The slick roads that are causing school delays and highway closures may be shutting down large portions of the U.S., but they’re are also causing me to still be in my pajamas and it’s nearly time for lunch … so, it does have an upside. At the summit of that upside, there’s a cup of cocoa. Got chocolate chips in the cupboard? Milk in the fridge? A microwave? Good. You’ve got hot chocolate just waiting to happen.

Exhibit № III: The House of Hot Chocolate Representatives is the executive body of the International Cocoa Coalition. It makes decisions on ICC policy, decides the agenda of the International Marshmallow Conference, and elects the Director-General.

Six Ways to Make Hot Chocolate

The House of Hot Chocolate Representatives

It’s easy to improvise hot chocolate. You don’t need a specially-dedicated mix. You can use chocolate in nearly any form, and mix it with a hot liquid – preferably milk, but other liquids, like coffee, offer up possibilities. Get this mix just exactly right, and you can send that polar vortex right back to where it came from. Broken cold-weather temperature records? Meet 150˚F of bliss. Wild winter storms, a sign of global warming? Luxurious liquid chocolate, a sign of highly-localized deliciousness.

Krapfen und heiße Schokolade

Improvisation № III: Hot Chocolate

Basic Method:

Dump ½-cup of chocolate chips into a very big coffee mug or a 16-oz glass measuring cup. Add ¼ cup milk. Nuke for 1 minute. Stir thoroughly, to encourage the chips to melt. Add another ¼ cup of milk. Nuke for 30 seconds. Stir thoroughly once again. Add another ¼ cup of milk. Nuke another 30 seconds.

Hacks:

1. Skim milk makes a fantastic cup of chocolate.
2. You ever order coffee to go and wind up with extra liquid creamers? Save those little buggers in the fridge. If you want to turn your skim hot chocolate up a few richness notches, add one of those.
3. Milk chocolate is acceptable, but if you have other options, avoid it. It’s too sweet.
4. Use white chocolate chips. Top the finished beverage with orange peel shavings and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Voila.
5. Shockingly, White Cold Chocolate may be even tastier than hot! It’s reminiscent of eggnog. And, like nog (and like many of my closest friends), it becomes just a touch more interesting if you add a shot of alcohol. Rum, brandy: they work well, but I think Grand Marnier is spot-on.
6. Nuke yesterday’s black-as-a-skillet coffee – the stuff that you left in the pot yesterday and forgot about – until it nearly boils. Combine with hot chocolate in equal portions.
7. Use water instead of milk = very interesting.

Suggestions for Further Reading:

• Improvisation № I: Eggs w/Veggies
• Improvisation № II: Eggs for Breakfast
• Improvisation № IV: Trifle Improv
• Improvisation № V: Improv Soup
• Exhibit № I: No-Bake Therapy
• Exhibit № II: No-Bake Cheesecake
• Exhibit № III: The Fudge Brownie Collective