Snow-Day Hot Chocolate( with a Kick!)

After a wonderful morning of playing in the snow, coming inside drenched, but happy, it was time for some hot chocolate. I asked Liz "Do you want fast hot chocolate, or good hot chocolate?" She decided she wanted good hot chocolate, so I made some from a recipe I'd found...with some small alterations. Oh, it was WONDERFUL! There's a little kick to it, but not so much that the kids really noticed. (They noticed the flavor, and didn't mind the spice.)

You will need:

1/3 cup unsweetened baking chocolate powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup boiling water

3 3/4 cups milk (I used nonfat)
1/4 cup heavy or whipped cream
(or, use 3 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup half-and-half)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (or semi-sweet, if it's what you have)

Whipped cream (optional)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine baking chocolate, sugar, cayenne, cinnamon, salt, and boiling water. Simmer, stirring constantly (to keep it from scorching) for about 3 minutes.

Add milk, cream, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Turn the heat up to medium-high or high, still stirring constantly, until milk is warm and chocolate chips are melted. Remove from heat, ladle into cups, and top with whipped cream.

Theoretically, this makes 4 servings, but this is good and rich enough to have smaller servings, and you can get 5 smaller cups out of it.