Delectable Holiday Drinks!

The perfect drinks to enjoy this holiday season - warm and hot, perfect to beat the cold.

Planning to spend Christmas and this New Year’s Eve all cuddled up in your blanket with your loved ones? Too cold outside to party? What could be a better way to enhance the winter environment then to prepare some scrumptious warm drinks to share with your family – what could possibly be a better way to begin the New Year?

Here’s your way to begin!

Peppermint Oreo Milkshake:

Peppermint itself brings out the holiday spirit within us all. It’s everyone’s favorite tastes and smells of the holidays.

What you need to prepare this luscious drink is:

Ingredients:

• Softened vanilla ice cream ( 2 cups )


• Milk (Half a cup)


• Candy Cane (1, Crushed into pieces)


• Oreos (4, broken into pieces)


• Whipped Cream (optional)

Procedure:
Into a blender, Place the ice cream, milk, Oreos, and crushed candy cane and blend until a smooth and rich texture appears. To crush the candy cane, break it into big pieces, and place it into a Ziploc bag. Place a towel over it and crush the candy cane with either a meat mallet or a heavy spoon. Pour this prepared drink into a glass, top it off with whipped cream and a little more crushed candy cane for the garnishing.

Caramel Hot Chocolate

Who doesn’t like a warm cup of hot chocolate with its warm chocolate decadence? What could be better than to top it off with some fresh caramel! Yumm!  Now this can prepare up to 2 servings easily:

Ingredients:

• Milk (2 cups)


• Chocolate chips (half a cup)


• Caramel (half a cup)


• Sweetened Whipped cream or Vanilla Marshmallows


• Grated chocolate for the garnish

To prepare the Caramel Sauce:

You will need:

• Granulated sugar (1 cup)


•  Water (1/4 cup)


• Salted butter (1/4 cup – diced into 1 tbsp pieces)


• Heavy cream (Half a cup)

Heat sugar and water over medium-high heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Whisk continuously, to melt the sugar. Once the mixture begins to boil, stop whisking and allow it to boil until it reaches a dark amber color. Keep waiting for the mixture to reach a proper reddish orange. Once it reaches this color, add Butter immediately and whisk until the butter has melted, and then immediately remove from heat. Pour in cream carefully and immediately whisk to combine. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Pour out this caramel into a glass jar to cool. Once it is cool, store it into an airtight container and place it into the refrigerator to preserve.

Procedure:
Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the milk is warm, stir the chocolate chop and caramel into it. Whisk constantly until the chocolate has melted. Allow this to cool a bit, poor into a glass – top it off with sweetened whipped cream or miniature marshmallows! Drizzle each serving with 1 Tbsp caramel sauce and garnish off with
grated chocolate if desired.

Cookies and Cream Hot Chocolate:

Ingredients:

• Milk ( 2 cups) or 1 cup of milk and 1 cup heavy cream


• Hot chocolate powder (Half a cup)


• Oreos (4-5)


• Whipped Cream

Procedure:
Warm up the milk on the stove over medium low heat.  Be careful not to let it boil. Add the hot chocolate powder.  Grind the Oreos up very finely in a food processor or blender and then add them to the warm milk. Pour this into a glass and serve with whip cream topping and Oreos crushed on the top as a garnishing.

Snicker doodle Hot chocolate

Ingredients:

• Milk (3 cups)


• White Chocolate Chopped (2/3 Cup)


• 1 Cinnamon stick


• Vanilla (Half a tsp)


• Cinnamon (Half a tsp)


• Nutmeg (1/8th Tsp)

Procedure:
Pour ¼ cup of milk, white chocolate, and a cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Keep the Heat on low, stirring constantly, until the white chocolate has melted. Add the remaining Milk and spices and heat through. Remove cinnamon stick before serving. Pour into a glass and you may top it off with Whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon for garnishing.

Gingerbread Hot Cocoa

Ingredients:

• Milk (4 cups)


• Cocoa powder (½ cup)


• Brown sugar (¼ cup)


• White sugar (¼ cup)


• Ground cinnamon (½ teaspoon)


• Allspice (½ teaspoon)


• Ground ginger (½ teaspoon)


• Vanilla extract (½ teaspoon)


• Sea salt (¼ teaspoon)


• Whipped cream

Procedure:
In a saucepan heat milk over low heat. While warming the milk, add the cocoa powder Brown sugar, Sugar, Cinnamon, Allspice and Ginger in a small bowl. Whisk all this into the milk until hot. When prepared, pour the drink into a glass and Serve with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Homemade White chocolate:

Ingredients:

• Milk (4 cups) or 2 Cups milk and 2 Cups Heavy cream


• Vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)


• White chocolate, chopped into small pieces or white chocolate chips (8 oz.)


• Whipped cream or marshmallows

Procedure:
In a medium Saucepan Stir together milk, vanilla and the chopped white chocolate over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the white hot chocolate comes to a simmer. Do not let it come to a boil. Remove from heat and serve immediately, topped with whipped cream or marshmallows if desired.