Cioccolata Calda or The most AMAZING Hot Chocolate EVER

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and we're celebrating a few birthdays. 

The first is Mr. Got All Mom's Genes. My green -eyed, blonde-haired baby is growing up! We celebrate birthdays all week because WE CAN. So, here are some cupcakes with sparkler candles. It was fun just to sit and watch them.

 I don't know if I've shared this picture but probably you recognize the kitty. Poor guy. He got in a fight with some neighborhood gangster and has a scratch on his ear. So sad. But my youngest learned not to put band-aids on furry cats. They don't appreciate it. 

 We've all been reminiscing about summer. Have I mentioned it's raining? Yes? Well, it still is. And cold. Blah. We need some snow, or some sun. Preferably both.

 A throwback snapshot of our kitty. One of my kids needed a place to put his crayon so it didn't get lost. I found the cat this way. Talk about a deep sleeper.
                                                       
                                                                             

So, my friend was telling me that if I haven't had Italian Alps hot chocolate, I haven't HAD hot chocolate.

I begged to differ. I drink Mexican hot chocolate with pan Mexicano so...  don't come at me with that "you've never lived" junk. LOL

 But after seeing those pictures, I decided to try it out. Some recipes use half and half, some use arrow root.  I'm not allergic to corn starch so I used that and it worked perfectly.
You'll need:
4 cups milk
5Tbs good powdered chocolate
5TBS condensed milk
2TBS corn starch
sugar to taste
vanilla to taste

 Dissolve the corn starch a few TBS of hot milk. Heat the milk, condensed milk, chocolate and corn starch together until boiling. Stirring constantly, let it cook at a simmer or low boil for four minutes or so.

 If you'd like to add anything to it, add when removing from the heat.  I added crushed chocolate covered espresso beans. OH, YUMMY!

 Pour into cups or small ramekins. Don't drink immediately. It's VERY HOT.
                                              
 Grate chocolate over the top and let it melt a little.

 As it cooled, I could smell the coffee/chocolate all over the house.

 I was a little worried when I dipped into it that I'd made pudding. (Oh, who am I kidding? I was not worried in the SLIGHTEST. Pudding is delicious.)

 But it was still liquid, so I guess we could still call it hot chocolate.

I did have to eat it with a spoon, but my kids drank it down (they got the espresso free version, FYI, before anybody calls the cops).
Well, that's all for now!