On 12/9/05, Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I didn't intend to be lurkish, but so it appears...
I sympathize with the feeling. It doesn't matter how much I intend to become more active; it seems I always find other things taking up more of my time. > Anyway, the recent frigid weather here has had me > experimenting with flavors in my cocoa; nutmeg, > cinnamon and mint are well-known, but a dash of the > following is good too: > mace (the spice, not the canned spray!) > cardomom > clove > Not so good: allspice. My wife says that nutmeg goes with everything. But I personally have always enjoyed mixing sweet with hot and spicy. Think mango and chipotle peppers together, for an example, or papaya and cayenne. Or the mixture of chocolate and various peppers in mole. If you are adventurous, try a dash of Trappey's Red Devil Sauce in your cocoa. Or a mixture of green chillies, ginger, coriander, and cumin, like you might find in an Indian curry -- I would leave out the onions, garlic, tomato, and ghee :-) If you are really adventurous, puree some soy milk, butternut squash, peanut butter, and curry powder and mix a little of that in with the cocoa. Changing gears a little, if you're not planning to go anywhere, a splash (or more!) of a fruit-flavored mead would go nicely with the cocoa. A blackberry mead should work well, or a mead with a bit of oaky flavor. You might also want to try a good, sweet Canadian icewine -- the ones from Ontario are the best in the world. For an extra warming effect, try the mead or icewine without the cocoa! You could also try mixing in a little almond powder or nearly powdered walnuts, perhaps mixed with a very small amount of crushed clove. I've never tried this myself, but it would certainly be seasonal to add crushed roasted chesnuts. You could purchase a fancy grinder, but if your cabinetry is solid then the traditional "hammer and towel" approach is just perfect. Rather than seasoning the cocoa directly, you could experiment with using the cocoa to season other items. For example, try various sugar cookies and spice cakes to dip into the cocoa. Depending on your taste, carrot cake might work well here, or a Swedish or Swiss basel brunsli -- a cookie made from chocolate, cinnamon, egg whites, and almonds, with a little clove and confectioners' sugar. A nice tart cranberry oatmeal cookie would work nicely too. And of course, any sweetener added to any of these should be pure cane sugar. If you buy a package of sugar that doesn't say that it is made from pure cane, then it probably came primarily from sugar beets. The only viable alternative to cane sugar as far as I'm concerned is stevia, although it is a bit harder to find and I'm still getting a feel for how it reacts differently than sugar when cooked. I hope that helps! Mauro "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
