room temperature (noun): a temperature of from 15° to 25°C which is suitable for human occupancy and at which laboratory experiments are usually performed. The natural enemy of spontaneous bakers.
I've been whittling away the time by cleaning and reading. We've been bestowed a small amount of snow over the past two days, so things feel a bit chilly. I've bumped up my thermostat a whole half degree. I know, I'm spoiling myself. I also decided to spoil myself with some hot chocolate (or hot cocoa. Is there a difference between the two?) while reading my new book: "As Always, Julia".
In the spirit of the book (the letters between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto), where there was no internet and recipes were handed about by word of mouth, through letters, or books: I decided to not use the internet to figure out how to make hot chocolate. And then I thanked the gods for companies writing recipes on the sides of boxes. Specifically, I love you Fry's Premium Cocoa.
- On a quick note before the recipe: I was surprised to see the New Allergen Information notice on the cocoa. I hadn't noticed it in the grocery store, so I had a mild panic attack in the kitchen. Thankfully, Fry's doesn't contain any gluten, but now it says "May Contain Milk". Seeing as how, yes, I use lactose free milk (because it makes me feel muuch better) but I am not diagnosed lactose intolerance, I decided to plunge ahead with my indulgence anyways.
- Second side note: Does anybody else drink lactose free milk? Have you noticed 2% M.F. being much richer than you remember normal milk being, or is it just me? And do you feel like lactose free milk keeps nicely, even past the expiration date? Usually I'm a strict follower of the expiration date, but lactose free milk seems absolutely fine to me.
Enough of my gabbering: onto the richness of cocoa!
