~~Julia Childs~~
Awhile ago I invited some young girls over to my home for an afternoon of crafts. Afterwards, since the weather had turned frosty, I served mugs of old fashioned cocoa, made from scratch like my mom used to give me, with a little extra cream and a splash of vanilla extract. A couple of days later one of the girls mothers called me. "What kind of hot chocolate did you give my daughter? She keeps raving about it!" When I told her that I had made it from scratch she was amazed. "I didn't even know you could do that!" she said, "My mom never really made anything much in the kitchen". When the conversation was over I began to think about cooking as a legacy, as an actual generational blessing to my family. When I stand in my kitchen each day, I try to sense the delight amid the duty for I truly believe that is what my own mother did for us.
Old Fashioned Cocoa
Five 8-oz. servings.
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
**4 cups milk (not skim)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan
Stir in water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.
Boil and stir for 2 minutes.
Reduce heat to low and add milk, stirring constantly (Do not boil at this point, simply heat to serving temperature)
Remove from heat; add vanilla.
Beat with a whisk until foamy.
Serve plain or top it with marshmallows or whipped cream and sprinkles, if desired.
** My mother used 3 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup of canned milk to add creaminess. I do this as well whenever I have canned milk in the house, but it is perfectly delicious even without this extra creamy addition
VARIATIONS:
Add one of the following at the same time as the vanilla extract:
SPICED COCOA: 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg.
MINT COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
SWISS MOCHA: 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee.












