It’s been Autumn since September 23rd, and I’m just not feeling it. That’s not unusual, though, since I live in South Florida. It’s hot and humid most of the year down here which makes feeling seasons pretty much impossible. And I have to tell you that I miss the Autumn and Winter seasons. Even though I’m from Orlando (just a 3-4 hour drive north), we had some semblance of seasons, cold weather and all. So to get myself in the mood, I’m turning down the air-con and whipping up a batch of this Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate. If pumpkin spice can’t get me into an Autumn state of mind, hot chocolate surely will. Join me for a cuppa!
Rich and creamy hot chocolate made with white chocolate and real canned pumpkin, and infused with pumpkin spice!
The Ingredients
It’s not unusual for me to have several recipe ingredients in my pantry, but I only had one for this recipe: vanilla extract. Well, I did have some whipped cream in the fridge, but I’m not sure it counts since it’s optional.
And I guess I technically had the pumpkin pie spice. I mean, I had all of the ingredients and a tried and true recipe for it. It just took me a day or two to actually make the pumpkin pie spice.
So after I made sure I of what I needed it was off to the grocery store. This recipe doesn’t have many ingredients (5 or 6 if you add whipped cream), and I’m happy to say they were all easy to find at my regular store. No multi-store shopping or special orders were required.
The Process
Making this Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate was so easy, but I did make a slight change. Milk tends to burn easily unless you keep the heat low and constantly stir. Otherwise, you end up with this gross brown coating on the bottom of your pan. Even worse, chunks can break off and end up floating in your hot chocolate. Eew!
I happen to have a double boiler, and it was the perfect way to keep the milk from burning. The pan I used came with a double boiler insert. You can buy an insert (based on your pan’s size) or you can simply use a heat-proof bowl placed snugly over a pan of simmering (not boiling) water. The water doesn’t need to be filled too high, by the way. It should be an inch or two below the insert and not touch the bottom of it.
The only prep work I did was chopping the chocolate bar into small pieces while the water for the double boiler heated. Once the water came to a simmer I added the insert, measured everything else directly into it, and stirred until the mixture simmered gently.
I left the double boiler on the heat and added the white chocolate. Tip: Double boilers are excellent for melting chocolate. I removed it from the heat once the chocolate was fully melted and stirred it into the milk mixture.
Then I filled 2 extra large mugs, piped on some ready-made whipped cream, and dusted on more pumpkin spice. I know, the recipe says cinnamon, but I got a little too into the pumpkin spice that day LOL! By the way, the glass mugs I used are 16 ounces or 2 cups each. This recipe made just a little more than 2 mugs worth of Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate.
The hot chocolate took me 11 minutes, and garnishing took another 2. Well within the 15 minutes listed on the recipe.
