The Perfect Recipe for Beating the Winter Blues

 

The winter blues can get the best of us down. However, at Mintaad.com we’ve come up with the perfect recipe: a warm blanket, a cup of cocoa (see recipe below) and of course a book selected from Mintaad’s varied library. And presto, those winter blues will dissipate into a thing of the past. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups (1 qt.) milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Miniature marshmallows or sweetened whipped cream (optional)

 Directions

1. Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan; stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk; stirring constantly, heat to serving temperature. Do Not Boil.

2. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Beat with rotary beater or whisk until foamy. Serve topped with marshmallows or whipped cream, if desired.

3. Makes five 8-oz. servings

 

VARIATIONS: Add one of the following with the vanilla extract:

SPICED COCOA: 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Serve with cinnamon stick, if desired.

SWISS MOCHA: 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee.

 COCOA AU LAIT: Omit marshmallows or whipped cream. Spoon 2 tablespoons softened vanilla ice cream on top of each cup of cocoa at serving time.

 SLIM-TRIM COCOA: Omit sugar. Combine cocoa, salt and water; substitute nonfat milk. Proceed as above. With vanilla, stir in sugar substitute with sweetening equivalence of 1/2 cup sugar.

 CANADIAN COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon maple extract.

 MICROWAVE SINGLE SERVING: Combine 1 heaping teaspoon HERSHEY'S Cocoa, 2 heaping teaspoons sugar and dash salt in microwave-safe cup or mug. Add 2 teaspoons cold milk; stir until smooth. Fill cup with milk. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until hot. Stir to blend; serve.

 Source: Hershey.com