This is about as simple as a recipe is going to get. It makes one cup of hot chocolate.
6-8 ounces (200-250 ml) milk
1 heaping teaspoon cocoa
1 heaping teaspoon sugar
You will also need: a cup, a stirrer, and a microwave oven.
Put the cocoa and sugar in the cup. Add enough milk to moisten it. Mix well, until you have a dark-brown paste, with as few lumps as you can manage before you get bored. (If you've added extra milk, you'll get a medium-brown liquid. Don't worry. The important point is that the powder is mixed with the milk.)
Now add the rest of the milk, and stir well.
Put the cup in the microwave, and zap on high for about 30 seconds. Take it out, stir it, and zap it for another 30 seconds. Stir again, and check for temperature. You'll probably want to give it another 20 or 30 seconds.
When it's hot enough, stir once more, and enjoy.
I do this at the office, which means I simplify things by mixing the cocoa and sugar ahead of time. If you're doing it that way, use two teaspoons of the cocoa mix.
A bit of cinnamon goes in this nicely, if you like cinnamon. Put it in with the cocoa and sugar. The amount of sugar is variable--I have a strong sweet tooth--and you may want to experiment. If you don't like much sugar, start with just cocoa powder and milk, and add sugar to the hot chocolate when it's ready, a little at a time. Saccharin might also work, I haven't tried it. (Aspartame probably won't.)
I use Droste cocoa powder, but there are other good brands. Don't use a prepared hot chocolate mix: those contain powdered milk you won't need in this recipe, and weird preservatives and such. Sugar and cocoa powder, mixed in a sealed container, will keep for months. I use whole milk, but this ought to work just fine with low-fat or even skim; you can also add a little cream or half and half, if you like your cocoa rich.
Basically, just don't burn the milk--that's why you're zapping for 30 seconds and checking, not 90 seconds or two minutes at once. Microwaves vary, of course--if you know yours well, you may want to adjust the timing.
Copyright 2000 Vicki Rosenzweig, with thanks to the ElderMOO crew for proofreading.
Back to my home page.