HOT CHOCOLATE MAKER

Coffee is by far the number one hot drink consumed by people world-wide. Teac comes in a close second, but there’s another warm beverage that people love and that’s hot chocolate. In most families the hot chocolate maker is usually one of the parents, and often times it involves heating up milk or water on the stove and then adding the cocoa and sugar. It can seem to take forever and some people give up and turn to those powdery packets of hot chocolate mix as an alternative.

They can be tasty, but you’re not going to get the same delicious and rich taste as you would from a homemade mug of hot chocolate. Some manufacturers are recognizing this and they are coming out with a hot chocolate maker that can sit alongside your coffee maker in the kitchen.

In fact, they work in much the same way. You add the liquid to the machine. For a great mug of hot chocolate, pour some milk into the hot chocolate maker. Then you add your cocoa and sugar, and before you know it you’ve got steaming hot goodness. I’d recommend splurging a bit and buying one of the higher qualities cocoa if you’re going to be using it for hot chocolate as well as baking. The better brands have so much more taste; you’ll feel as though you are drinking liquid chocolate.

The thing that I like best about the machine, is that I can make one or several cups all at the same time. The machine that I have makes four servings which in my home means either all four of us are drinking a regular coffee cup filled with hot chocolate. Or two of us are going to enjoy a large mug of this warm treat.

We usually only crave this drink in the winter when the temperatures dip down and we’ve spent some time outside ice skating or building snowmen. I also try and make certain that I keep some marshmallows close to the hot chocolate maker. The kids love popping a few marshmallows into their hot chocolate and then watching them melt. I’m trying to watch my figure so I bypass the marshmallows but I have been known to indulge in a bit of whip cream on top.

Cleaning is a breeze as well. The carafe can be put in the dishwasher and the basket that holds the cocoa and the sugar can be emptied out and washed by hand. I usually wipe down the surface of the hot chocolate maker every once in a while too just to remove any grease or dust that may have found its way onto it.

In my house it’s been a great addition to the kitchen. It gets tons of use in the winter and it’s made the ordeal of making hot chocolate easy as pie.