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Farmer's Kitchen
There are certain things in life that simply make you smile. Personally, a mug of classic hot chocolate is one of these things. My wife and I were watching The Holiday a couple of weeks ago and there was a scene where Jude Laws character (Graham) makes a batch of hot chocolate for his children. This scene immediately inspired me to make my own batch and so without hesitation I travelled to the local store to get the required ingredients. Talking about going down a rabbit hole and getting sidetracked! Not only did I not finish the movie but I ended up spending far too much time looking for the perfect block of Scharffen Berger chocolate that was simply unobtainable in my small home town. After my search failed to yield acceptable results I ended up settling for a block of plain Cadbury Chocolate instead. Whatever the outcome of my search the batch I made was simply divine and I have since become a firm believer in the magic of hot chocolate. I now believe that a good cup of hot chocolate is like opening a flood valve of happiness straight to the heart. In todays world, with todays current issues, I now believe that if it makes you smile how bad could it possibly be?
Imagine for a moment that you have a mug of hot chocolate right this moment. Now look past the calories, past the fat content, past the sugar and look at what you have in your hands! The ingredients that went into making this mug of bliss very likely came from all over the world. The cacao most likely came from West Africa although the plant itself originated in Mexico, the sugar, if bought in Australia, most likely came from the cane fields in northern Queensland. The Marshmallows definitely came from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and the milk probably came from a diary farmer not too far from where you live. The fact that we live in a world that can supply all these products on demand is simply magic. But the true magic happens in your kitchen when you mix all these ingredients together! This is how I make my batches of smile inducing hot chocolate. The Ingredients. Cacao (note this is not Cocoa, Cacao is raw and unprocessed chocolate powder) - 6 tablespoons Sugar (white or brown) - 4 tablespoons. Cadbury chocolate (white or brown) - 1 block (broken into squares) Marshmallows (white or pink or both) - 24 pieces Full Cream Milk - 6 Cups Whipped Cream (A can is fine) Tap Water - 1 - 1/2 cups The Process For this batch it is advisable to use a large saucepan, after all you will be making a batch of Hot Chocolate that will fill five to six mugs! 1 - Put and the saucepan on the stove top and add the 1 and a half cups of water to it. Turn on the heat. 2 - As the water begins to simmer add the 6 tablespoons of cacao to the water. Use a whisk to dissolve the cacao completely being sure to leave no lumps. 3 - Keep the water and cacao mix simmering (not boiling) as you add the four table spoons of sugar. Continue to whisk the mixture to dissolve the sugar. 4- Now that the basics of the mix are dissolved it is time to add the six cups of milk. Keep heating the mix until it is simmering (do not boil, no-one enjoys mouth scolding hot chocolate). 5 - Allow the mixture to reheat. Now that the heat has returned to the mixture it is time to add the squares of chocolate. Keep one row of the chocolate to be grated (for later use), the remainder of the block can be broken into squares and placed into the hot mix. 6- Continue to stir the mixture so that the chocolate pieces dissolve throughout. This may take several minutes to occur. It is advisable not to boil the mixture as boiling hot milk can lead to the mixture boiling over and onto you stove top. Your hot chocolate experience will gain nothing of value from doing this so it is advisable to watch your mix and keep it hot but not boiling! 7 - Now that your mixture is hot it is time to add the mix to your mugs leaving about one inch of space at the top. 8 - Add six marshmallows to each of the cups, they will float on the surface. 9 - Add the whipped cream to the top of the marshmallows, spiralling the cream around to make a peak. 10 - Dust the top of the whipped cream with a pinch of cacao powder and add the grated chocolate! Congratulations are now in order! Your have completed your batch of hot chocolate! Prepare for chocolate induced smiles and enjoy!
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Chefs Note - When I go into the kitchen with guns blazing the last thing I want to be doing is touching my phone. And yet almost ironically the internet is a haven for recipes and the temptation is forever present. As this is the case, I have taken it upon myself to try and remember certain recipes straight off the top of my noggin. After all, the last thing anyone really wants to be doing is handling their phone followed by ingredients. Smart phones may be one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century but they have no place in the kitchen. Remy from Pixar's Ratatouille wouldn't approve and neither do I. Don't get me wrong, having The Goldbergs playing on my phone while I am cooking is one thing, but I am a stern believer that the phone itself should never be handled whilst cooking. This is sacrilegious! Any who, after that rant, here is my easy recipe for Farmer's Cottage Pancakes. Farmer's Cottage Pancakes. Ingredients 1 Egg 3 cups of full cream milk 2 1/2 cups of self raising flour 1/3 cup of sugar 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract Butter 1 - While preparing the mixture add a large frying pan to the stove top on medium heat. 2 - Sift the two and a half cups of flour, one third cup of white sugar and one quarter teaspoon of baking powder together into a large bowl. Repeat this sifting process multiple times, (sometimes I do this six or seven times). The more air you put into the mix the fluffier the pancakes will become. I use two bowls to do this. I simply sift out of one bowl and into the other. Then I repeat and repeat and repeat and you get the idea... 3- (Milk Mix) Whisk the egg, 2 - 1/2 cups of milk and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract together in a smaller bowl, this is your milk mix. 4 - Make a hole (well) in the centre of the flour mix (larger bowl) and add the milk mix. Now whisk to your heart's content. The mixture should be a smooth batter by the time you have finished (no lumps). I do this by hand but you can use whatever method you see fit. 5 - Add butter to the preheated frying pan. One or two tablespoons should be plenty to coat the entire surface of the pan. This process will need to be repeated between each batch as the cakes will soak the butter up like the little fluffy butter thieves that they are. Now use a large cooking spoon to dish out the mixture into the frying pan. The more mixture you add to a pancake, the larger it is. If you want to go completely crazy add all the mixture to the frying pan to make one giant moon cake (good luck flipping it). Now that your mixture is in the frying pan wait until you start to see bubbles appearing through the batter mix. Don't panic this is simply the heat trying to escape from under the cakes. It is at this point that you will want to flip your pancakes over. Don't leave your pancakes sitting on the same side for too long as they will burn... To add even more flavour to the pancakes I try to butter the pan between flips, this ensures both sides of the cakes turn golden and tasty. 6 - I like to serve my pancakes with real butter and real maple syrup. I include other condiments on the table, such as raspberry and strawberry jam, treacle (golden syrup) and honey but the maple syrup bottle is always half empty by the time breakfast is over, clearly the favorite. I hope you enjoy! |