Dan's Hot Chocolate

Dan made hot chocolate for me one day last week.  He was making our usual recipe and added his own twist, which I LOVED.  Our original recipe is from Hersheys.  It is such a perfect drink, especially this time of year.  Sooooo chocolatey and delicious!

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
dash of salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk
3/4 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in a saucepan; stir in water.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir 2 minutes.  Stir in milk and heat.  Do not boil.  Remove from heat; add vanilla.

And for Dan's peanut butter version ~ add 2 mini Reeses cups and a scoop of peanut butter (around 1-2 Tbsp)

Crockpot Pumpkin Spice Latte

I LOVE Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes! But, at almost $4.00 a crack for a 12oz that's just a little too much! Here's a recipe to make something similar at home. Sure it's not Starbucks, but it costing mere cents a cup to make makes it worth it! It says it's a crock pot recipe, but I've done it on the stove for a faster version and it turns out just fine.

Crockpot Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Ingredients
--2 cups milk (I used 1%)
--2 T canned pumpkin
--2 T white sugar
--2 T vanilla (not a typo. it asks for tablespoons)
--1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
OR: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger
--1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
--garnish with whipped cream (optional)

The Directions:

This will make enough for 2 people to have a big mug with a bit leftover. If you are having friends over, adjust the recipe accordingly. I used a 4-quart crockpot, but as small as a 1.5 quart will work with these amounts.

Add the coffee/espresso and milk to the crockpot. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold. Whisk again.

Ladle into mugs, and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon.