A rich, creamy, hot chocolate from-scratch, simmered with orange peel, boosted with coffee, and spiked with Grand Marnier and Kahlua.
Hiii!! Can you believe Christmas is only 5 days away? Eek! Not ready! I had something else all teed up to share with you today, but since traveling to Pennsylvania yesterday from Florida, I have been nothing but COLD since arrival. Everywhere is COLD!
All I could think about was this hot chocolate that we made over the weekend. I am dying for a hot beverage, and nothing like creamy, rich, homemade hot chocolate. If it’s spiked with two kinds of booze? All the better.
Even as I write to you from my childhood bedroom at my Mom’s house, I’m freezing. My fingers are struggling to type! Other than my Gma, whose house is basically a sauna at all times, everybody keeps things so cold around here, and they seem fine with it. I cannot seem to get warm, but I’ve gotten pretty wimpy since adjusting to the FL climate. I’m snuggling under blankets, and I have the hood up on my sweatshirt.
This hot chocolate is calling out to me. I had no idea what to call this. I wanted you to know everything that was in it so you could understand how unbelievably delicious it is just by the title. That said, it’s not exactly the catchy name you want in a cocktail, right? Help me out. Do you have a good idea for what I can call this beverage??
I started out craving something with chocolate and orange. That’s just a Christmas-y combo to me. I love orange with darker chocolate, semi-sweet at the very least, and I thought an orange hot chocolate would be amazing. If I’m going to go that route, it might as well be Grand Marnier. That’s the natural next progression, in my mind! I also thought that a little jolt of coffee would taste pretty damn good with a Grand Marnier hot chocolate, and if you’re going to add coffee, well, it might as well have Kahlua too.
With a rich, creamy, hot chocolate from-scratch, simmered with orange peel, boosted with coffee, and spiked with Grand Marnier and Kahlua, you’ll be flying high as you are hanging ornaments on the tree, and nestling by the fireplace. It’s a seriously decadent beverage, but you should still have cookies around for dunking. That would be the ultimate cozy night as we are counting down to Christmas.
I made you 5 cocktails that I’ll be sharing this week, and even after Christmas. You may not be baking after Christmas, but you will still be drinking, no? The beauty of cocktails recipes is that you only need a few minutes to mix them up, so they are perfect last-minute ideas, and you’ll still crave them after the holidays.
You may not want to make Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies or an Eggnog Cheesecake after Christmas, but you will certainly still be knocking back wintery cocktails. Come back for more where this came from. 🙂
Grand Marnier & Kahlua Hot Chocolate Lattes
Ingredients
- 2 c. whole milk
- 1 c. strongly brewed coffee
- 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 3 - 3- inch strips orange zest peeled with a paring knife or potato peeler
- 1/2 c. Grand Marnier
- 1/2 c. Kahlua
- whipped cream
- chocolate shavings
- grated orange zest
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over low-medium heat, whisk together whole milk, coffee, cocoa powder, sugar, and orange zest strips.
- Cook, stirring frequently, until cocoa powder and sugar are dissolved, and the mixture reaches a low simmer.
- Remove from heat, and discard orange zest strips.
- Stir in Grand Marnier and Kahlua.
- Divide into mugs.
- Top with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and grated orange zest. Serve hot.
