There are just times that coffee is not quite right, tea is not deep and intense enough and you  just need a little more. Here it is. Your little more.

I used the bittersweet hot cocoa mix from Bittersweet Cafe. It handles the addition of alcoholic beverages beautifully due to its intensity. Try adding whipped cream and a cherry on top for a perfect finish.

Mt Gay Choco Cherry Toddy

• 1 oz Mount Gay Eclipse
• 1 oz Monin cherry syrup
• ½ oz dark crème de cacao
• Hot cocoa to fill mug ( I used bittersweet)

Image: Sxc

Post from: Kettle and Cup

If you like the chocolate mint girl scout cookies you are sure to like the Nonni’s Mint biscotti.  The texture is the same crispy texture of the other biscotti in this line but there is a nice bittersweet chocolate flavor that turns into that “York Peppermint Patty” experience.

This biscotti was nice with tea, and it was great with coffee but…it was…EXCEPTIONAL with hot chocolate.  I have the possibility of a completely new addiction.

If you like the combination of chocolate and mint then this one is for you.  Of the four flavors I tried I rate this one number one, and the one most likely to disappear first at my house.

Image:Marye Audet (c) 2009 all rights reserved

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Sean had a JBQ meet today and Marc was going with him…so I had to drop them off at 7 a.m.   What else is there to do at that time of day? Exactly.

Starbucks and a magazine.

Since the other day when Marc and I were there I wanted to try the Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate. The idea of it was so intriguing that I kept thinking about it.  Yes..I was a victim of….Starbuck’s porn.  And after you read this you will be, too.

I told them I was blogging it today and to make it pretty.

She automatically made the drink in a venti mug because I always have a venti (with extra whipped cream…see I have trained them well!).  I smiled and mentally prepared for the sugar high that was to follow.

The salted caramel hot chocolate is the new signature hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, turbinado sugar, caramel, and sea salt crystals.

One more….just so you get the idea…..

O.k…The chocolate itself is not standard hot chocolate.  Imagine dipping your finger into melted semi- sweet chocolate chips…we have all done it, right?  Well imagine that in a slightly more liquid form  and you have the flavor.  It is not a particularly “milky” drink.  Completely rich, and honestly yeah, a little cloying.  I suggest you order a large glass of ice water with it.

So you take a sip and you have the flavor of the chocolate with the crunch and saltiness of the salt crystals.  It is very much like drinking a chocolate covered pretzel.

Do I recommend it? Oh yeah.  If you are not a major sugar-a-holic like I am I would suggest a regular cup and not a venti.  Work up to the venti..you know, for those times you need sugar tremors and a 2,200 calorie kick in your diet. (honestly I do not know how many calories it is…alot I am sure)

Now…trust me on this. Order it in a “for here cup”.  Ceramic.  Stuff tastes nasty out of to go cups.  Take a magazine or a book. Sit in a comfortable chair. Relax and sip this amazing drink for one hour.  Do not think about anything not fun.

There…don’t you feel better?

Well worth the money….well worth the calories.

I have created a Copycat Recipe for Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate..check it out!

I am editing to add….I will no longer be dealing with either Foodgawker OR Tastespotting.  If they would turn images down and say things like..I don’t like this…I could handle that. However…when they say…Image was blurry and out of foucs..I have to laugh..bitterly perhaps..but laugh.  DO you see anything out of focus or blurry about the second image? me neither.    There for I am taking my cool images and going home.  When I am a cool, important PBS cooking show celebrity I shall ignore them completely.

images:marye audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup