Red Velvet Hot Chocolate with Cream Cheese Whipped Cream

Uhohhh! It’s a few days before Christmas and I haven’t done a lick of Christmas shopping. I guess you could say I’ve been distracted doing other random things, like sleeping for 14 hrs straight…and watching past seasons of Top Chef…and, uh, watching episode after episode of Avec Eric (which by the way, if you haven’t watched you’re totally missing out).  I essentially have had better things to do then gear up and go to the wretched mall.  And since I’ve waited so long, I can’t order anything online without being penalized by high shipping costs, but still I’m not too worried.  I have a feeling I’ll just make myself some pancakes and this hot chocolate and my problems will go away.

And plus, here at A Cozy Kitchen we’ve been busy doing other “life” stuff…like getting proposed to. Yep, you’ve heard right. Just nights ago Chase got on one knee and asked his lady, Caroline, to marry him.  It’s pretty exciting stuff and I’m totally psyched to plan a wedding cake, if not make it myself, which I’m secretly scared to do. One thing Caroline and I have talked about, of course, is the cake…and we’re both leaning toward a red velvet cake with a butter cream frosting. So in lieu of my Caroline becoming an honest woman, I bring you the liquid, winter version of her future cake: Red Velvet Hot Chocolate with Cream Cheese Whipped Cream!

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate w/Cream Cheese Whipped Cream

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Serves 4

For the hot chocolate:

4 cups of milk

splash of water

3/4 cups of premium semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)

1 teaspoon of red food coloring paste (I ended up finding it at Michael’s in the cake decorating aisle)

For the whipped cream:

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of whipped cream cheese

In a medium mixing bowl or a stand-up mixer, pour in heavy whipping cream and sugar.  Whip on medium with the whisk attachment for 2-3 minutes.  Just before it peaks, add the teaspoon of whipped cream cheese and whisk for another 2 minutes. Taste the whipped cream and add more cream cheese to taste. If you like it more tart, I’d say add another 1/2 teaspoon, just be careful to not over whip or you’ll have butter on your hands in no time.

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat.  Add a splash of water and the chocolate chips, constantly stirring gently .  When almost melted, add the red food coloring paste and stir some more.  The color should be a deep red, similar to the picture above.  When the chocolate chips are all melted, pour the hot chocolate in four mugs and top with the whipped cream.

Tagged as: Chocolate