Who can take a sunrise? Epic Hot Chocolate Jamie Oliver style

Who can take a sunrise
Sprinkle it in dew
Cover it in chocolate
and a miracle or two?

Well, apparently Jamie Oliver can. He's my man of the moment, after the stunning success of the Get ahead gravy, his was the original inspiration for the Leftover turkey surprise pie, and now this. Epic Hot Chocolate.

All being well M and I are planning on heading out tomorrow night, and following our trip to Cologne earlier this month I wanted to recreate some of that magic with flasks of hot drinks; Gluwhein mit amaretto for me, and Cocoa for Mark. However, I wanted to make his hot chocolate more akin to what we were drinking in Cologne. Thick, creamy and luscious. My mum originally dissuaded me from having a bash at this hot chocolate by daring me to "think of the calories!" and truly it's not something I'd recommend drinking every day. But it's New Years Eve, it's going to be flipping freezing and we're going to be outside for a fair old while. So hang the calories (it'll be made with skimmed milk too)

The recipe is so simple, and would be a perfect gift for a chocolate lover, if done up in a kilner jar, with the instructions added on a luggage label, tied with ribbon or string. Mine is in an old nutella jar, so has been hastily prettied up with some spare gingham fabric and a bit of ribbon.

We'll be taking around half a pint of cocoa with us tomorrow, so the quantities below make plenty, that we'll be able to dip into again should the need arise. We'll only be using 5 tablespoons of mix at the most.

Epic Hot Chocolate a la Mr Oliver - my alternative (equally epic) suggestions below

2 tablespoons Horlicks
2 tablespoons cornflour
3 tablespoons icing sugar
4 tablespoons quality organic cocoa
100g quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely grated OK, Pantry admission here - I had no dark chocolate in the house, so grated 100g of a chocolate santa one of the Guides gave me for Christmas. Oops.
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of sea salt     

Penelope's Pantry amendments...

• I've added  the leftover pieces of nutmeg as well as grating half a nutmeg into my mix as I love the way it tastes in anything with milk.
• Why not try with grated dark chocolate that has chilli in? Or you could add whole, dried chillis to the mix - to infuse their flavour
• Cardamom would make this amazingly scented and much more grown up
• On a grown up theme, a shot of rum, Baileys or brandy would give this one hell of a kick!
• Of course if serving to littlies, squirty cream and marshmallows are must haves
• Green and Blacks' flavoured chocolates would all add a little something extra; Butterscotch, the Mayan Gold - all yummy in this.
• These are just suggestions I've thought of since making it about an hour ago... why not do whatever you like and suits you the best... the world really is your oyster with this. And as I say, it has amazing gift potential!

Put all of these in a jar, put the lid on and shake to mix.

Warm up the amount of milk you need (250ml milk is a rough measurement for a mug) and before it boils, turn the heat down to low and whisk in 5 tablespoons of mixture per pint of milk until it's smooth and thick.

We'll be decanting into warmed thermos flasks and enjoying (fingers crossed) under the London fireworks. So with that I bid you a Happy New Year! I hope it brings you everything you wish and hope for.

With jam and bread... and bread... Milk Bread

This is my second recipe from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitely, and I am just loving getting back into breadmaking. In the same way as I'm enjoying preserving, there's something soothing and reaffirming into making something out of very little, about making things stretch, in the repetition, thought and work put in to this type of cooking. Unlike baking which always results in something demonstrably decadent, jams and bread are things you need. Things that by making yourself you don't have to buy, and are therefore good uses of my time, and ingredients I might otherwise not use. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Clearly I'm a displaced 40's housewife. With a veg box. It could happen!

What's really interesting about Bread Matters, is that it's not just a recipe book, as you progress through the recipe pages, you're learning about different techniques of breadmaking and why the yeast works as it does. Now for a science phobe such as myself - seriously, I'm completely phobic - my last meeting with science was my GCSE exam and all I remember is staring vacantly at my left hand trying desperately to remember what the rule was I was supposed to know about that linked to it, whilst not hyperventilating or vomiting. If people had linked science to food, art or musicals I would have been a scientist by now. Still my double B in science seems to set me up for understanding yeast.

In the milk bread, it's the full fat (still only 4% before those of you on diets have a coronary) milk that softens the crumb. It's noticeably different to the wholemeal I made last week. Soft and flavourful, the sort of bread that reminds me of childhood (why I don't know, maybe it's my misspent youth reading Enid Blyton novels). Clearly not my childhood. Whilst you can't taste the milk, there is a mild flavour of something different from the wholemeal. Mixing the strong wholemeal and strong white flours also makes the flavour milder.

Again it was such an easy, soothing way to spend an evening - I would say to anyone who hasn't made bread themselves to try it, Andrew Whitley's book really does give you a framework for home breadmaking, and also helpful hints and tips. All I'm doing is a recipe and a fair amount of nonsensical chat.

I should probably also state that I have nothing to do with Andrew Whitely, and bought the book myself, I am just this evangelical about home breadmaking.
Sorry, I went slightly off piste there didn't I? Erm where was I? Evangelical about good, home cooked bread. Quick and easy. If you have the money a breadmaker makes it even easier, if you don't - I personally prefer to do it by hand.

Recipe: Milk Bread

260ml Whole milk
5g fresh yeast
200g strong wholemeal flour
200g strong white flour
tsp salt

1 egg, beaten with a little milk for the glaze (not to self, I must get a pastry brush)

Dissolve the yeast in the milk
Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl, then turn out onto the worktop and knead for 10 minutes
Let it rise for 2 hours (as before, in the bowl, covered with a plastic bag)
Then divide the dough into two peices - one about 500g, and the other of the rest (about 150g)
Divide the larger peice into 4, stretch out to make small loaves and put in a loaf tin so they're touching (that'll make more sense if you look at the picture up top)
Have a go at twirling, plaiting or knotting the other bit, after making it into a longish sausage
Brush with the glaze
Leave for another hour to prove again
Preheat the oven to it's top temp and turn down to start baking at 210 degrees.
After 10 minutes turn it down to 190 and leave the loaf for 30 - 40 minutes, the twirly, knotty plait cooks quicker - in about 20 minutes.

This was really nice spread thickly with butter and (homemade, naturally) strawberry jam! The plait was demolished in two days by Mark and myself. That's fast.