A little bit of heaven in a mug

Tonight I made hot cocoa.  Not just ANY hot cocoa.  This hot cocoa was a little bit of heaven in a mug.

It's a recipe that came on the back of a package of vanilla beans that I bought from Costco.  My first use of a vanilla bean wasn't great.  I was making vanilla bean ice cream for my wife's Birthday.  The recipe I have is a custard-type ice cream.  I tempered the egg yolks and added them back in to the pot, but I think I had the burner on just a bit too high.  I was supposed to cook the mixture until it coated the back of a spoon.  When it hit that point, I was just about to take the mixture off the heat and it started to boil, and the custard separated.  It was beyond salvaging.  A broken custard never ever recovers.  I'll try that recipe again in a few days.

When I got the vanilla bean out for tonight's hot cocoa recipe, I found out that something was missing!  It told me to split the vanilla bean and scrape out the insides and put it in a food processor and add sugar.  The problem?  The recipe on the package didn't say how much sugar to add!  A bit of a search on the Internet and I found the recipe in its entirety.  So here it is for you:

Ingredients:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa (Dutch-processed is best)
• 1/2 cup water
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chilled whipping cream

Directions:

Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean into food processor.  Set aside vanilla pod.  Add sugar to processor and process for 10 seconds.  Reserve 3 tablespoons of vanilla sugar.  Transfer remaining vanilla sugar to a medium saucepan.  Add the unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup of water, pinch of salt, and whisk until smooth.  Whisk over medium heat just until bubbling begins.  Whisk in whole milk and half and half.  Add reserved vanilla bean pod.  Bring mixture to a simmer.  Remove heat and whisk in vanilla extract.  Discard vanilla bean pod.  Beat whipping cream and reserved vanilla sugar in a medium bowl until firm peaks begin to form.  Divide hot chocolate among 6 mugs and top with whipped cream.

It's really good.  Really REALLY good.  The cocoa is dark and chocolaty.  The whipped cream adds a creamy richness that cools the cocoa as you sip it.  It's the best hot cocoa I've had since I left Apeldoorn where the lady that owned the house we lived in would make hot cocoa for us pretty much every night.

It's definitely worth the effort to make it.  Enjoy!