3 Hot Beverages for the Holidays

The sweetest way to warm up on a cool West Coast winter day is hot chocolate! This month we started off thinking about fun ways to drink hot chocolate, and came up with easy ways to spruce up your hot coco.

The best we could come up with was layering hot chocolate that was whipped into something like a dalgona coffee foam over vanilla ice cream. Then, for good measure, we put a shaft in the middle. We could have stopped there, but it's December.

In December nothing succeeds like excess, so we decided to do it again. Twice. Once with Eggnog. Once with cereal milk foam. 'Tis the season to be a little extra, and these drinks may just become a staple to your winter drink favourites.

You'll Be Visited By Three Exceedingly Decadent and Delicious Hot Drinks...

These are rich, decadent and creamy drinks. Christmas time comfort food cocktails. You probably don’t want two. I don’t know, maybe you do. Two, and then a nap. Exactly what you want during the holidays.

Initially, my goal with this drink was to layer foamy hot chocolate over a shaft with vanilla ice cream melting on the bottom. The challenge is that when you whip milk or cream into a foam it works best when it is cold. That means a hot chocolate foam will be loose and runny. Basically, it is a rich, thick latte foam.

That is great, but you can also make this as a cold drink. This makes it easier to whip up into a foam. It will be a little more stable when you make it cold, but you have to be careful not to over whip it or it will become stiff and more like a whipped cream.

The holiday season brings out the kid in all of us. Unlock the memory of enjoying a sugary cereal during early morning cartoons around Christmas break! We captured that moment in our next twist on the classic.

For the cereal milk foam, we used Cinnamon Toast Crunch and let it soak in whole milk for twenty minutes. Then we strained out the cereal and added a little brown sugar and some salt. It is delicious. You can foam this up just like the hot chocolate.

Get in the Spirit of the Season!

For this boozy part of this you are going to use Bourbon and amaretto. The combination of the two tastes remarkably similar to cream soda. On its own it's a little too sweet, but add a little cream and cinnamon and it balances out a bit.

The eggnog is up to you. Use your own recipe, or open a carton of store bought. If you’re a fan of eggnog lattes you already like the foamy eggnog piece. Spicy Alberta Premium rye adds some structure to the mix, while the spiced rum gives a hint of vanilla everyone loves with their eggnog.

These drinks are pretty easy to make. The only challenge is making the foam. There are a couple approaches you can take depending on what tools you have on hand.

If you have an espresso machine with a steaming wand built in you are ready to go. An immersion blender does the trick as well. If you want to make it hot you will have to figure out how to heat it up.

We used an immersion blender on the stovetop while my hot chocolate heats up. If you're feeling up to it, you can also use a whisk! It’s just going to take some time.

We've figured out the best ways for you to get that decadent whip! Now, enjoy these recipes on those wintery and wet Vancouver Island evenings. Happy Holidays!

Hot Chocolate Shaft

Ingredients

• Whipped Hot (or Cold Hot Chocolate)
• 1 oz Kahlua
• 1 oz Alberta Pure Vodka
• 1 oz Iced Coffee or Espresso
• 1 scoop Vanilla Ice Cream
• Chocolate garnish (we've used a Ferrero Rocher, but you can get creative!)

Method

Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom of your cup. Top with espresso shaft mixture. Spoon hot chocolate foam on top. Garnish with a chocolate truffle, Ferrero Rocher or a cookie.

For the shaft:

Pour vodka, Kahlua and espresso into a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into the mug with the ice cream in it.

For the whipped hot chocolate:

Mix up heavy cream and hot chocolate mix. Using a latte steamer, immersion blender or whisk. Heat and whip your hot chocolate until it forms loose peaks. Gently ladle the hot chocolate foam over the shaft mixture so it floats in a layer on top.

Not Your Grandma's Eggnog

Ingredients

• Use your favourite egg nog!
• ½ oz Bacardi Spice Rum
• 1 oz Alberta Premium Rye
• 1 scoop Vanilla Ice Cream
• Grated Nutmeg for Garnish

Method

Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom of your cup. Mix the spiced rum and rye and layer over the ice cream. Spoon eggnog foam on top. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

For the whipped eggnog:

Using a latte steamer, immersion blender or whisk, heat and whip your eggnog until it forms loose peaks. Gently spoon the foam so it floats in a layer on top.

Cinnamon Cereal Milk 

Ingredients

• Whipped Cereal Milk
• 1 ½ oz Maker’s Mark Bourbon
• ½  oz Disaronno Amaretto
• 1 scoop Vanilla Ice Cream

Method

Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom of your cup. Mix amaretto and bourbon and layer over the top of the ice cream. Spoon cereal milk whip on top. Garnish with a chocolate truffle, cinnamon stick, a cookie, or all three!

For the cereal milk whip:

Ingredients

• 3 cups of Cinnamon Toast Crunch
• 4 cups of cold whole milk
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• ¼ tsp of sea salt

 Method

Put the cereal in a large bowl and pour milk over top. Let the mixture stand for 20 minutes. Strain the cereal out of the milk and add the brown sugar and salt. Whisk until the sugar and salt is dissolved in the liquid. Whip the cereal milk until a loose peaks form.

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