Dessert

Busy busy busy. That’s how I have felt the last several days. Holidays, man! It’s been a good busy, though. I stayed up way too late making chocolate truffles on Friday night. Early breakfast with my best friends on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve night with my grandparents. This morning I gave my mother the gift of my presence at her church and now I’m finally sitting down to round out our Twelve Days of Cocoa.

This hot cocoa would be considered “sipping chocolate” by some and a ridiculous indulgence by others. It is so thick and rich that if you’re not a chocolate lover like me you’ll want to serve it in small espresso cups instead of regular mugs.

Before I started this hot cocoa series I went shopping at several grocery stores looking for all the different chocolates and flavorings I could get my hands on. One item I found was Dagoba Organic Chocolate. Star Wars chocolate?! Yes please! (I’m not a nerd. I just have several in my life whom I love.) Just pretend there is an “h” on the end.

My mother loves coconut.  Coconut anything.  There is no way I could do Twelve Days of Cocoa and not include coconut in some form.  There is a large coffee chain that had a mocha coconut frozen beverage during the summer and she quickly became addicted.  I mean, um, she rather enjoyed them.  In moderation.

So this one is for you, Mom.  (Yes, I will make this on Christmas Day at your house.)

Cherry Cordial candies are one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.  I pop those bad boys like Tic Tacs. It isn’t just chocolate, goopy cherries, though.  I love all cherries.  Anytime cherries are in season that’s about all I eat.  I can snack on them all day long.  Maraschino cherries are always in my fridge just waiting to plopped onto a bowl of ice cream (I usually have about five maraschino cherries per bowl of ice cream). Then, when the bottle is empty I pour the juice into soda water and add a little cream and ice. Yum yum yum.

There are four full days left until Christmas Day (not including today).  That means the shopping malls are crazy madhouses and people are frantically running around to do their last minute shopping; clogging up the streets and freeways and definitely acting more Grinch-like than Christmas-Spirit-Like. Does this sound like you?  Lucky for you I have a solution!