Today we have Eileen from The Joy of Caking joining us.  She’s one of our favorite food bloggers and Molly’s been an avid follower of hers for several years.  (Could it be because she hooked Molly up with the genesis of the greatest Chocolate Chip Cookie eVeR recipe?)  After you read this go and check her out.  She does great stand-bys like her white cake recipe.  When she ventures into cooking she  makes yummy things like asparagus soup.

St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching and I although I’m not sure if I even have an ounce of Irish blood in my body I have always secretly wished I was Irish.

Maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to drink green beer.  Nah- I doubt it.  Or maybe it’s just because of my love for Irish music.  Speaking of which, you can listen to it on Jango.  Free on-line, non-stop, uinterrupted music- can you beat that?

Anyway, one of these days when I have nothing better to do I’ll dig into my families ancestry and see if I can come up with a drop or two of Irish blood. I’m holding out hope since red hair and fair skin does run in our family.

Just to be clear, hot cocoa did not originate in Ireland. The first chocolate drink is thought to have originated a couple thousands of years ago by the Maya people. I just thought since I was going to serve the cocoa in my cute little Irish cups, and I’m already getting into the St. Patrick’s Day mood, I’d mention my secret desire to be Irish. It’s scary how my mind works isn’t it?

This simple hot cocoa recipe is adapted from Hershey’s 1934 Cookbook. The cocoa is rich tasting but not fattening since I use skim milk to make mine. You can use any kind of milk you have on hand.

Hot Cocoa Recipe

2 heaping tbsp. double Dutch cocoa

3 tbsp. granulated sugar

Dash of salt

2 c. milk

¼ tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

In a medium saucepan, add cocoa, sugar, salt, milk and vanilla; mix ingredients thoroughly. Warm ingredients on medium heat; stirring frequently. Do not bring to  a boil. Pour into your favorite mugs and top with marshmallows or whipped cream. This recipe makes two 8 oz. cups.

Cheers to St. Patrick, and a big thanks to Mike and Molly for the opportunity to guest post for their terrific blog!

Thank you Eileen!

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 Whipperberry and Hearth-n-Soul blog hop

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