When I was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (in less than 24 hours) right after it came out, I had a hankering for a hot cocoa. Call me crazy, but despite the soaring temperatures and stifling humidity, curling up with a good book (oh my, was it ever good!) and a hot chocolate just screams relaxing reading to me (air conditioning helps too).

Let me harp on Harry Potter for a moment though . . . I love, love, love the book. In fact, I think Deathly Hallows is the best of them all. And in a few months, I will begin reading the series one more time – from start to finish. At least it won’t keep me up until all hours this time . . .

Anyway, back to the hot cocoa. My favorite method of making hot chocolate is to melt chocolate into milk. I love the richness that it creates . . . far superior to powdered mixes (though those have their place too). And I like using good chocolate – dark preferably. Sometimes a dash of peppermint extract is a nice touch too. This particular version is organic because by coincidence, I had a bar of Green & Black Organic 70% Dark Chocolate and a quart of organic skim milk on hand. (The whipped cream wasn’t organic though, I must confess.)

I definitely recommend making this whenever you want to curl up with a good book (or warm up on a cold day).

To make:

Combine 8 oz of organic skim milk with 1/2 bar organic chocolate and heat over medium until fully combined. Pour into a mug and let cool before serving. (You may want to add a little touch of sugar to sweeten it up, though I chose not to.)