This week’s snow is proving hard to resist. When your snowman-making, snowball-fighting crew come in from the cold, warm them up with this creamy hot chocolate made in a crock pot.
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Not only will you have plenty to go around — without having to mix and heat individual cups in a microwave — but the taste is more robust than the hot chocolate produced by the store-bought packets.
The recipe is compliments of Rosemary Palmer, a Chattanooga resident who blogs at myhomeandtravels.com.
If you’re fully preparing the recipe in a crock pot, it will need about two hours for the chocolate chips to fully melt and incorporate. For a quicker version, “you can make it on the stove and pour it in the crock pot to keep it warm,” she says.
(READ MORE: Face down winter with a trio of favorite childhood desserts)
An avid recipe reader, Palmer says she adapted this version of hot chocolate from various other recipes.
“A lot of them are almost the exact same thing,” she says. “Some may add vanilla. Some may use dark chocolate. Some may use white chocolate. You can adapt it to whatever you want it to be, to your own flavoring and liking.”
Palmer says she sometimes will leave out 3 to 4 tablespoons of the sweetened condensed milk because she prefers her hot chocolate slightly less sweet.
“I always say, ‘Make a recipe how it’s written, and then adapt it.’ Some people say they like cinnamon in it. Some make it more of a Mexican hot chocolate and add different hot spices. It’s a fairly easy recipe to make it your own.”
Now that it’s just her and her husband, Don, at home, she often makes a half batch for the two of them to enjoy.
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Easy and Rich Crock Pot Hot Chocolate
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips (I use semisweet, but milk chocolate would work well also)
Pour all the liquid ingredients into a 4- to 6-quart crock pot, and stir together. Mix in chips. Turn on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. To serve, pour into mugs and top with marshmallows or whipped cream, as desired.
Quick version: Heat all liquids in a heavy saucepan until the mixture simmers; do not boil. Add chips, and stir until melted. Pour into crock pot to keep warm.
Leftovers: If you have any left, store in a Mason jar with a lid in the refrigerator. Reheat it by the cup in the microwave or a larger batch in a heavy pot on the stove. Use within 2 to 3 days.
— Rosemary Palmer, myhomeandtravels.com
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.