BASIC RECIPE FOR HOT COCOA

"This recipe makes a medium-strength cocoa. The amount of cocoa powder and sugar can be varied as required."

4 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar

Bring milk to boil.

Mix dry cocoa powder with sugar. Mix cocoa powder-sugar mixture to paste with 2-3 tablespoons of cold milk or cold water. Whisk the cocoa powder-sugar paste into boiling milk.

VARIATIONS:

TO MAKE RUSSIAN CHOCOLATE:
Add 5 tablespoons of fine cognac. Top each drink with whipped cream and dust with sifted cocoa powder.

TO MAKE IRISH CHOCOLATE:
Add a generous amount (experiment; it's up to you) of Irish whiskey and 2 tablespoons of honey and top with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

TO MAKE ALMOND COCOA:
1 Basic Recipe for Cocoa (above recipe)
2 tablespoons blanched almonds, skins removed
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons amaretto

Make Basic Recipe for Cocoa. Crush blanched almonds with sugar in mortar and cook with 1 cup of the Basic Recipe cocoa for 2-3 minutes. Mix with remainder of cocoa, add amaretto and serve with whipped cream.

Servings: 4
Source: The Chocolate Bible by Christian Teubner, Sybil Grafin Schonfeldt, Silvio Rizzi, Eckart Witzigmann, Karl Schumacher and Leopold Forsthofer