Josephine’s Lavender Hot Chocolate
Keep Josephine's Lavender Hot Chocolate recipe around for cold nights. You can add an ounce of coffee as you drink it to wake up in the morning, or add a small amount of liqueur to it for a special occasion. Any way you ammend it, this recipe is as enchanting as it is delicious. Kathy Gehrt's Discover Cooking with Lavender (Florentia Press, 2010) provides this lavender recipe in the following excerpt from the chapter "Delectable Drinks." Lavender was the secret ingredient in the nightcap Josephine created for Napoleon. Not only delicious, this drink always seemed to put Napoleon in a “romantic” mood. Serve on Valentine’s Day and add a small amount of liqueur for a special touch. Josephine added an ounce of coffee to her potion. This excerpt has been reprinted with permission from Discover Cooking with Lavender: Fresh & Flavorful Recipes, published by Florentia Press, 2010
Author: Kathy Gehrt, From Garden to Table
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk or half-and-half
- 2 teaspoons dried lavender buds
- 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Pour milk into a medium saucepan and stir in lavender buds. Set over medium heat and bring just to a boil.
- Remove mixture from heat and steep for 3 to 5 minutes, or longer for a stronger lavender flavor.
- Strain the milk to remove the lavender buds, and then pour the milk back into the saucepan. With the saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the chopped chocolate until melted and smooth.
- Whisk in the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt; remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Divide among coffee mugs. Top with whipped cream or a homemade marshmallow..