Friday, January 18, 2008

TOFFEE NUT DRINKING CHOCOLATE
Hurray hurray hurray! I have been asked to start adding to the content on www.chocolatexpert.co.uk - and help build it into a baking, eating, drinking resource all about chocolate. Can you think of anything better? Okay, I am often to be found writing for a website - one day about finding work in Newcastle, the next about selling scrap gold online - but rarely are they as close to my heart! I can think of no better way to spend a Friday.

And while I'm here, and we are talking about chocolate, would you like a recipe for the Starbucks winter special? Well, not the official recipe, but an extraordinarily close approximation. Here's what happened: I walked past a Starbucks. The "Toffee Hot Chocolate" advertisement called to me. I stopped. It carried on yelling, with all its creamy, toffee-coloured might. "I'll come right back," I promised. And I did.

And seriously, could I get addicted to those things. Fortunately, as I wrapped my hands around the warm brown cardboard and sipped, I remembered that I had recently bought some Caramel Sale (Toffee Nut) Syrup from an online drinks store. It was, in fact, sitting in a dusty corner of the kitchen (with its friends Green Apple and Gingerbread) as I drank. So the next day, I whipped up a couple of Toffee Nut Chocolates for us, at home. Whipped cream optional...

Per person, you'll need:
3tbsp real drinking chocolate (I used 'Liquid' by Hotel Chocolat)
1mug-full of milk (measure in the cup and then tip into saucepan or jug)
2tbsp Toffee Nut (Caramel Sale) Monin Syrup

Having measured and emptied your milk into a saucepan or jug (depending how you plan to heat it), put the drinking chocolate and syrup into the bottom of your mug, add a splash of the cold milk from the pan, and stir it to a paste. In a saucepan over the hob, or in a microwave (go slow), heat the milk to just below boiling. Pour it over the mixture in the mug, and stir well. Using a handheld frother or the steam spout on a coffee maker, froth up the top of the milk, and sprinkle with cocoa to serve.

2 comments:

jd said...

Yay! Congrats on being asked to start adding stuff to the Chocolate Expert website! What an honor :)

And thanks for the delicious sounding toffee nut chocolate drink recipe, too. I'm excited to give it a try with some soymilk. Yum!

Anonymous said...

Now I know why Mum loves her Devon excursions...good to see you again, Anna. Will keep up with you now - sorry for too long gap. Had to 'find myself' after sad demise of cbuk and while getting P through his illnesses AND moving to t'other end of M5 from you. Now on top form again (well, as much as) and Lola has her own blog - come see.