Black Bottom Hot Chocolate Mugs with Marshmallow Whipped Cream

Creamy, rich, indulgent.  You should make this hot chocolate at your earliest convenience, preferably when you are in front of a cozy fireplace in your jammies.  With it snowing outside.  Not that we would know what snow is here in Mississippi.  I'm just using my imagination.

I've melted Nutella and marshmallow cream into milk with just a little bit of cream, and added a surprise in the bottom of the mug: a layer of Nutella you can eat with a spoon after the hot chocolate is gone.  Because *that* is fun, people.  And since I've always struggled with whether to top my hot chocolate with marshmallows or whipped cream, I've decided to do both. 

I am at peace.

Black Bottom Hot Chocolate Mugs with Marshmallow Whipped Cream

Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream, divided

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup marshmallow cream (fluff), divided

1/3 cup plus 4 heaping tablespoons hazelnut spread (Nutella), divided

3 1/2 cups whole milk

Chocolate sprinkles or chocolate shavings for garnish

Beat 1 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup marshmallow cream in the bowl of an electric mixer on high speed with the whip attachment until medium peaks form.  Refrigerate until needed.

In a medium heavy bottom saucepan, whisk together 1/3 cup hazelnut spread, remaining 1/3 cup marshmallow cream, 3 1/2 cups milk, and remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream over low heat until smooth and hot. 

To serve, place one heaping tablespoon of hazelnut spread into the bottom of each of 4 clear glass mugs.  Ladle in the hot chocolate carefully (do not stir) over spread, then top with a large dollop of the whipped cream.  Garnish with sprinkles or chocolate shavings and serve with extra whipped cream.

Vanilla Bean Iced Coffee

Dear World,

Here is a secret about me:  I don't like football.  And I sit here silently typing this startling fact as my husband switches between the Ole Miss-Mississippi State game and Notre Dame-USC game, and these after he watched the Alabama-Auburn game earlier. 

But I have no complaints about him watching football, because my fine specimen of a man offered to watch our three year old grandson all day on Friday while my daughter and I made our way south to Mobile to hit some Black Friday sales. 

(He offered himself, I might add, and stayed home from hunting on his vacation day to do it.  How grateful am I for this guy?  XOXOXO!!!!) 

They had quite the exciting day starting with Bray giving Pop a fun little lesson on how to properly brush teeth.  ("Not that way, POP!  I DO IT!  Lemme do it!")  

I'm not sure that he combed his hair or put clean underwear on him, BUT he was called into the bathroom to aid in some teeny, tiny, hiney clean-up.

"Pop, I'm thwoo-oo, come and wipe me!  Pop?!  POP!"

Oh. My.  I think we may have conveniently forgot to tell him that Bray occasionally poops for fear the whole deal would be off.  But he handled it like a trooper, or so he let me know.

So daughter and I had a fun day, and by fun I mean we had to leave the house at 4 AM and drive for an hour and a half, stand in lines that rival Disneyland, and create a plan of attack to decide which eight items could be taken into the dressing room to be tried on first and which of the remaining 32 items should be left behind to be tried on during the second through fifth rounds. 

And this: 

My daughter made me take this picture on the very back aisle at Academy Sports.  I normally don't post pictures of myself unless they have been heavily Photoshopped, but this was our special bonding day so I made an exception.  I think we look pretty, don't you?

 Okay, enough about my life.  This iced coffee recipe is my favorite and I made it a little bit different this time by using a real vanilla bean.  Yes, I debated and debated on whether to do this or not as vanilla beans are precious commodities in my house (thank you, Rodelle!), but when I made this I was having a very stressful ten-day stretch and I just needed a little bit of pampering.  This did the trick.

Here are my notes:

-You should try this:  blend one cup of the iced coffee mixture, 1 medium frozen banana and 1/2 cup crushed ice or ice cubes.  You can thank me later.  Heaven.  I forgot to take a picture of it but it is sooooo good.

-I think this would be a good base to blend with some other flavors--butterscotch, chocolate syrup, cinnamon, etc.

-You can use instant coffee granules in place of the espresso.

-You can leave out the vanilla bean and add vanilla extract to your liking.

-The amount of espresso can also be adjusted for a more powerful jolt.

Vanilla Bean Iced Coffee

Printable Recipe

1/3 cup instant espresso granules
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds removed

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups cold water
4 cups milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (for extra vanilla-y punch)

Place the espresso granules and sugar in a bowl and stir in the boiling water until dissolved.  Stir in the vanilla bean seeds. 

Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and cold water until combined.  Pour the milk into a pitcher.  Stir in the espresso mixture and the vanilla extract.  Chill in fridge for about an hour.  Serve over ice.

Simple Summer Vanilla-Peach Cooler

So how was your Fourth?  Since we were without our children who selfishly took our grandson with them on vacation to another state, Richard and I rode south to Mobile to watch the fireworks display on the Mobile Bay.

And who knew that about 5 bazillion other people would have the very same idea?!

We ate some seafood, I darted into Publix, we got some frozen yogurt, then we went to secure the perfect spot to take in all the festivities.  We paid a $5.00 parking fee to go park in Battleship Park, because I had assumed that that would be the best place to take pictures, but as we were trying to find a parking place (which was not easy, mind you) all of that sweet tea I had consumed with our seafood dinner suddenly hit me with a vengeance and wouldn't you know it?

Yep.  Only porta-potties.

And I am like, NO.

(Thank the good Lord that I am married to a very patient man.)

So we turned right around and left.  I think next time it will just be easier to throw that five dollar bill right out the window and save the time and aggravation of dodging pedestrians in Battleship Park.  Anyway, we eventually wound up with a great view in a no parking zone on the side of the bay.  And even though we were a little hesitant that we were breaking the law by parking there, a nice woman walking by in some in some short shorts and flashy gold earrings told us that we were just fine to stay where we were because "Honey, anything goes on the Fourth of July on the causeway."

Whew.

 

 

And to top off our already great night, we made a run through Krystals on our way home because seafood and yogurt was not nearly enough.

And that concludes my Fourth of July recap.  On to the recipe.

This simple, summertime drink is quick and easy and non-alcoholic, because why shouldn't non-drinkers have fun drinks too?  We should.  We totally should.  And they should be sipped from mason jars while sitting in a swing at sunset. 

Here are my notes:

-No need to peel the peaches.  Just pit them, then coarsely shop.

-The sugar and vanilla can totally be adjusted.  I wanted it very vanilla-y, so I added a lot.  But you can do what you want.

-I loved this over crushed ice.

-You can make the peach base ahead of time and store in the fridge for a couple of days.  Fill glasses as you need them.

-I think this might be great with nectarines too.  Or maybe plums.

 

Vanilla-Peach Cooler

Printable Recipe

1 (12 to 14-ounce) can peach nectar

1/2 cup sugar

4 small to medium peaches, pitted but not peeled, and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Club soda

Process the nectar, sugar, peaches, and vanilla in a blender until smooth.  Fill glasses with crushed ice and equal parts of the peach base and club soda.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

First of all, let me point you in the direction of Small Notebook.  Small Notebook is a beautiful blog about simplifying life, getting organized, and saving money.  That's where I first saw a post about homemade chocolate syrup that caught my eye.  I knew I had to try it.

But why?  Why would someone want to make homemade chocolate syrup?  I can think of three reasons right off hand.

1)  It's probably cheaper than buying store-bought.  I haven't taken the time to analyze the actual cost of homemade versus store-bought myself, but this recipe first ran in Amy Dacyczyn's book The Complete Tightwad Gazette, and there is a cost comparison in there.  From scratch wins by quite a bit. 

2)  It's NOT full of stuff that you can't pronounce.  Now, I like my processed food.  I like my store-bought ice cream and my Taco Bell and my Oreo cookies.  But I have been more concerned about eating processed foods lately, and I am trying to limit the amount I eat.  Yes, I'm trying to limit the amount of sugar I eat too, so chocolate syrup is still a splurge for me. But I had bought a bottle of off-brand chocolate syrup not too long ago, and the first ingredient in the list was high fructose corn syrup.  I had no idea what some of the other ingredients were.

3)  It tastes as good as the canned stuff.  Really!  I didn't think it would.  I really didn't.  But it does.

Here are a few tips if you make this:

-This boils over easy.  Use a medium to large saucepan and watch it.

-I made three versions.  The first version was made with regular Hershey's Cocoa Powder.  The second version was made with Hershey's Special Dark 100 % Cacao Powder, which I am absolutely in love with.

The one on the left was made with regular cocoa powder and the one on the right was made with dark. 

Personally, I loved the dark the best, but both were delicious.  The third batch was made with Splenda.  I did not like it at all and I'm going to have to work on it to get it right.

-The original recipe in the Tightwad Gazette says that this will keep for months in the refrigerator.  I don't know about months, but I'm sure weeks.

-This syrup is very sweet.  That's not a problem for me, but it may be for some.  I think the sugar could probably be decreased according to taste.

-This syrup gets thicker when it's cold, so don't judge it before it's really cooled.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Adapted from The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn

Printable Recipe

1/2 cup regular cocoa or dark cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk together the cocoa, water, and sugar in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, and cook for 3 minutes being careful not to let  boil over.   Remove from heat and add the salt and vanilla.   Pour into a sterilized jar and store in refrigerator.  Will keep for several weeks.  

Iced Mocha Latte

It's my birthday and since I'm thirty-eight today, I'm officially almost forty.  No more mid-thirties for me.  I'm almost forty.  Forty, forty, forty.  The big "four-O."

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with all this forty talk.  I think I'd rather just say I'm in my late thirties.  I like the way that sounds better. 

The good news is that I will be getting a cake later on today.  It will be a Bavarian cream-filled yellow sheet cake with tons of white icing.  That is if my husband got the order correct.  I will also be getting a gallon of Bluebell Cookies-n-Cream ice cream as the perfect accompaniment.

Now don't feel sorry for me because I don't have a Dorie Greenspan homemade birthday cake.  As shocking as it may seem, I actually want this.  Don't get me wrong, though.  I love all things homemade and from scratch, but probably one of my favorite indulgences is a store bought bakery cake with that disgustingly sweet, fluffy icing.  I must have ice cream with each and every bite to balance the sweet to sweet ratio and could you make it a corner piece, please, with extra roses?

But since I'm almost forty now, uh, I mean, since I'm in my late thirties now, and my metabolism is not what it used to be, I  mean since yesterday when I was in my mid-thirties, I am cutting down on some of the fat and calories in other parts of my life, starting with this recipe for Iced Mocha Latte.  It's a Pampered Chef recipe that I've tweaked a little.  Feel free to substitute whole milk and regular sweetened condensed milk if you are in your mid-thirties or younger and have a fast metabolism. 

This is a refreshing drink when you want coffee, but you really don't because it's too darn hot.  And it goes well with birthday cake

Iced Mocha Latte

1/3 cup instant coffee granules

1/2 cup boiling water

1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chocolate syrup

2 cups cold water

4 cups fat-free milk

1. Place the coffee granules in a bowl and stir in the boiling water until dissolved.
2. Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate syrup, and 2 cups cold water until combined.
3. Pour the milk into a pitcher.  Stir in the coffee mixture.  Chill in fridge for about an hour.  Serve over ice.