Drinks « Categories « Zoom Yummy – Crochet, Food, Photography

Hot Chocolate

November 11, 2010 by zoomyummy

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures

I love it when fall strikes and days get colder.

The reason why I love this time of year so much might have something to do with the fact that I suddenly have all the good reasons to indulge myself with sweet mulled wine or hot chocolate.

The best hot beverages ever!

Oh, how I love them!

They are true soul soothers!

The following recipe is just delicious.

The taste vastly depends on the kind of chocolate you use. So get the one you really like.

Also, there are different types of chocolate when it comes to its fat content. So remember – the higher the fat content, the more creamy and rich your hot chocolate will be.

So let’s experiment!

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures, ingredients

These are the ingredients you will need.

Just this few.

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures, break chocolate into smaller chunks, place the chocolate chunks into a heatproof bowl

1. To prepare your own soothing drink, first break the chocolate into smaller chunks.

2. Place the chocolate chunks into a heatproof bowl.

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures, add the sugar

3. Add the sugar.

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures, add the milk

4. Add the milk.

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures, place the bowl over a pot of boiling and steaming water, stir until the chocolate melts, keep stirring until the mixture gets hot, nearly boiling

5. And place the bowl over a pot of boiling and steaming water.

6. Stir until the chocolate melts. Then keep stirring until the mixture gets hot, nearly boiling.

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures, pour the chocolate into two cups and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and some grated chocolate or a dusting of cocoa powder

7. Pour the chocolate into two cups and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and some grated chocolate or a dusting of cocoa powder, if desired.

homemade hot chocolate recipe with step by step pictures

And in case someone comes and steals your chocolate shamelessly be really thankful that this recipe yields two mugs.

Enjoy, dear friends!

(This lovely recipe was adapted from Joyofbaking.com.)

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Mulled Wine

September 30, 2010 by zoomyummy

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

Mulled wine is my favorite fall and winter drink.

It’s hot and sweet and it possesses a very special power – it makes both your limbs and your soul beautifully warm.

I got this recipe from my beloved Mom. It’s traditional in our family, it’s simple, it’s fragrant and it’s beyond delicious.

If you’ve never tried it before, you definitely need to.

It’ll make you happy!

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

Here are the ingredients.

Simple, right?

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

These are the ingredients posing again just for you.

The water couldn’t make it to the picture ’cause it’s just too slow.

(Oh, yes, I am drinking the wine when writing this… how could you guess that?)

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

Cinnamon.

I love cinnamon.

Cinnamon is the spice of my life.

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

1. To make your own mulled wine, pour the wine into a medium saucepan.

2. Add the water.

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

3. Add the lemon juice, sugar and spices.

mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

4. Place the saucepan over low heat.

5. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

This mixture shouldn’t be boiling – that would make the alcohol evaporate. And, gee, that is the last thing in the world we want, right?
mulled wine recipe with step by step pictures

6. Remove from heat and strain into a large jug (or just remove the spices).

7. Serve in glasses while still warm.
And most importantly – enjoy, dear friends!

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Café Frappé …And a Giveaway!

August 20, 2010 by zoomyummy

cafe frappe recipe

Because one of the best things I’ve found in this world is giving presents to the people I love I’ve prepared a cute little something for you.

You definitely deserve it!

It is a Chess Set …but this one is played in a rather funky way – on a glass board with cute shot glasses filled with your drink of choice.

I see so many advantages of this kind of set over the usual one – first, it definitely lets you have a lot of fun. If you go ‘soft drink’, it keeps you hydrated. If you’re an adventure seeker, just fill the glasses with alcohol and set out the rules so that the player who takes most pieces drinks most grog. I think even a pro playing against a beginner can have a pretty enjoyable match – any kind of ability gap will be swiftly bridged. Think red wine versus white wine, for example. Or silver tequila against gold tequila… gee, I got carried away.

So yes, one of you can win this game.

Contest Closed. Thank you!
TO ENTER

To enter this contest, just answer the following question in the ‘Comments section’ of this post:

“What kind of beverage would you choose to play this game with?”

THE RULES

One entry per person, please.

Extra entries:

Twitter (follow ZoomYummy; leave a separate note about it in the comment section of this post),
Facebook (become a fan of ZoomYummy; leave a separate note about it in the comment section of this post).

(So together you can have three entries.)

Winner will be selected at random and announced on Thursday (August 26).

Good luck, everybody!
Contest Closed. Thank you!

cafe frappe recipe

And now I’d like to show you a little magic trick.

Café Frappé – it’s truly magical.

Why?

I’ll show you…

cafe frappe recipe

Café Frappé is a beloved drink of the Greeks.

All you need to prepare it is some instant coffee, sugar, water, milk and a few ice cubes.

It’s as simple as can be.

You also need to steal a frappé shaker from your Mom. If your Mom dares not to own a frappé shaker or if you are a decent person and don’t steal, then just use a glass with a lid.

Easy!

cafe frappe recipe

1. In the shaker/container/glass mix 2 teaspoons of instant coffee…

cafe frappe recipe

2. …with 2 teaspoons of sugar.

cafe frappe recipe

3. Add 4 tablespoons of water…

cafe frappe recipe

4. …close it and…

SHAKE IT… SHAKE, SHAKE IT… SHAKE IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTURE!

cafe frappe recipe

Shake it just until you get from this…

cafe frappe recipe

… to this frothy heaven.

Did you know that your instant coffee has this kind of ability?

It can transform into this thick and foamy wonder in no time.

I just love it!

cafe frappe recipe

5. Then fill a glass half way with ice cubes.

If you are a maniac like me, you can try to make these flavored ice cubes sometimes.

cafe frappe recipe

6. Pour the foam into the glass.

cafe frappe recipe

7. And add as much milk as you like.

cafe frappe recipe

Yum!

cafe frappe recipe

I’ve learned that the Greeks like to drink this foam-covered iced coffee with a straw.

Also, they like to stir the coffee and enjoy the relaxing sound of the ice cubes hitting with each other and with the glass.

Wonderful!

cafe frappe recipe

Just give it a try – it’s simple and delicious!

Oh, and don’t forget about the giveaway…

Love,

Petra

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No More Water in Your Drink

June 25, 2010 by zoomyummy

It’s so hot these days.

As a result, I need a nice cool drink all the time. Actually, I have a long straw and a huge jar positioned in the center of my place and I walk around sipping on something constantly.

Whatever I do.

Cooking, blogging, ironing… sleeping.

Really.

NOT!

But almost.

So yes, these days I’ve been attached to various iced drinks both physically and emotionally. Which made me contemplate the quality of these drinks. Because I want the first gulp to be of the same quality as the last one. I refuse to accept the situation when my drinks get all watered down from the ice cubes that I had added in.

That’s bad.

Really bad.

Like, I am able to accept many things, but not this one.

I guess it’s even against the basic human rights to have a drink like that.

It’s simply too much.

For this reason, I started to freeze all drinks that I like and transform them into ice cubes. That way, until there’s a freezer in my life, I will never ever have to drink a watered down beverage.

My sweet little victory.