The book this round is another teen fiction title: What the Moon Saw. Clara's parents don't know what to do with her, as she keeps disobeying on a grand scale, so when her father receives a letter from his parents, Clara's life does an about face. Her grandparents live in a remote area of Mexico and she's to go live with them for the next two months during summer break. Coming from the typical teenage life (of the United States), this sounds like torture to Clara, but she can't disagree, especially since her father never talks about his childhood and she's dying to know more.
There is a lot of food discussed in this book, but the description that caught my attention was of the Mexican hot chocolate.
"She motioned for us to sit on the wooden chairs, and began serving hot milk with cinnamon and chocolate, rich and foamy" (40).
"She was dropping squares of chocolate into the green pitcher of milk on the fire .... Now Abuelita was rolling a wooden stirrer between her palms to make the hot chocolate foamy. It seemed to whip things up just like an electric blender .... I took a sip, breathed in the cinnamon-chocolate steam" (68-69).
We're fortunate to have a friend who enjoys traveling and she gave us some authentic whisks after a trip she took to Mexico City:
I have no idea where this recipe originates, but I'm going to guess from the land of the Internet...
If that's enough for you to make this, then congratulations! All you have to do with the rest of this post is look at the pictures. Otherwise, I'll give you a few more details...
1½ oz unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
¼ c sugar
1 T instant coffee
½ t cinnamon
¾ c water
2 c milk (preferably 2% or whole)
(sweetened) whipped cream
Combine the first five ingredients in a saucepan and heat over low until the chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally. Once smooth, raise the temp and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the milk and stir until heated through.
Once hot, whip it until foamy. Serve with whipped cream.
My notes: you don't have to use a fancy whisk to achieve proper foaminess, just make sure your container/pan/bowl is deep enough to thoroughly beat it. The whipped cream at the end is optional, unless you use 'thin' milk. Anything lower than 2% makes for a weak beverage (uh, yeah, I'm speaking from experience). If you are adverse to coffee flavors, you could leave it out, though the drink will be the less for it. I'd like to try this with instant espresso and see how that changes things, too. Might be less noticeable.
Every time I've made this, the chocolate never melts all the way, so you may get little bits of chocolate-ly goodness in your drink!
Book recommendation: What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau
Recipe recommendation: Mexican Hot Chocolate
Music recommendation: Run Boy Run
2 comments:
I can imagine what an adventure it must be for Clara to live with her grandparents. It sounds like it came with pretty good perks, like the hot chocolate. Your whisk is very nice and it looks like it's fun to operate it. Thank you so much for contributing to Novel Food!
I like the sound of this book Like the storyline. Definitely, I like the sound of the hot chocolate. Mmmm! Would love to try it sometime. It's officially spring, however, the weather is as cold as winter. Perfect for some Mexican hot chocolate. :-)
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