TSS: The School of Essential Ingredients Hot Chocolate – Guest Blog & Giveaway by Erica Bauermeister
Earlier this year, I read and really enjoyed Erica Bauermeister’s “The School of Essential Ingredients.” The one thing I would have liked to add to the book was the actual recipes for some of the delicious-sounding food that was made in the book. Erica listened to her readers on this, and started doing a series of guest posts featuring recipes from the book. When she contacted me and asked if I would like to host a guest post/recipe and a giveaway, I jumped at the chance. I’m hoping to try out this hot chocolate on a cold, dreary day this winter. See the end of this post for a giveaway.
We’re moving deeply into winter, Thanksgiving handing the holiday baton over to the festivities of December. Kitchens are filled with the smells of rosemary and turkey, pumpkin and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. And hot chocolate, the way that luxurious smell comes floating up to your nose, the first sensation of whipped cream meeting your lips as you sip your way to the molten chocolate underneath.
It’s magic, really, which makes it only natural that Lillian used hot chocolate to tempt her mother back into the real world in The School of Essential Ingredients. But I realized pretty quickly when I was writing Lillian’s story that it couldn’t be just any hot chocolate. It had to be a version that would remind you of the hot chocolate you drank after playing all day in the snow, yet would also be full of the sensuality that only comes with adulthood. A recipe that would remind Lillian’s mother of the world she had given up.
As I was writing Lillian’s story I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, playing with ingredients. I loved the idea of adding orange and cinnamon, the combination of summer and autumn they create. Coffee and chocolate played off each other in an equally satisfactory way. But something was missing, and I couldn’t think of what it would be.
I went to the Mexican grocery store in the Pike Place market in Seattle and I asked the woman there for something special. She humored me, suggesting cinnamon, and sent me on my way. But as I was going up to the counter with a red and yellow box of Mexican chocolate in my hands, she came around the end of the aisle, a small bag in her hands.
“Perhaps a bit of anise,” she said.
It’s in there, with the proviso that a little bit of anise goes a very long way….
Hot chocolate and coffee
1 cup milk
5 curls orange rind
1/2 stick cinnamon
4 T Mexican chocolate
anise
1 cup coffee
whipping cream
Put milk, orange rind, cinnamon and chocolate in a saucepan and warm through. Add a touch of anise. Add to coffee and top with whipping cream.
If you want to see more recipes or learn more about The School of Essential Ingredients, you can go to www.ericabauermeister.com
Oh wow, that chocolate sounds so good! I love all the flavors. My only sorrow here is that the first post never, ever wins the drawing. But I’d love to win this book and to give the second copy to my mother (from whom I learned all my foodie addictions).
I don’t see the google form! I’ll check back later and enter properly.
That hot chocolate sounds heavenly. I loved The School of Essential Ingredients – it’s one of my favorite books of the year. I won’t enter, since I’ve already read it.
I would love to be entered – no Google form in sight – and I’m going to make that hot chocolate right after my shopping excursion tomorrow. Sounds delicious.
.-= Trisha´s last blog ..Sunday Salon: Lucky Seven =-.
I didn’t see a Google Form either. I would love to enter for the book though. I will also check back later. If I’m lucky enough to win, I would give the book to my best friend.
sharon54220@gmail.com
Thanks guys, I fixed the form and I’ve already entered all of you (except Kathy) onto it. Everyone after Sharon, though, will need to enter themself.
The hot chocolate sounds so good! I can’t wait to try it! I was very excited when I saw that you are hosting a giveaway of this book. It’s been on my tbr list for a while. I would also love to give it to a friend or family member for Christmas.
)
Thank you
Thanks for the guest blog and giveaway. I’ve been wanting to read this one for a couple of years now.
.-= A Bookshelf Monstrosity´s last blog ..The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary… =-.
Oooh, this giveaway is making me twitchy! This book will absolutely without a doubt be on my top 10 list for 2009. I listened to it on audio from the library, though and I would so love a copy to keep and touch! And to be able to give it to someone would be the best gift ever. Thanks for the giveaway!
.-= Sandy´s last blog ..Sunday Salon: Diet time and a Shelf Discovery Rampage =-.
Thanks for hosting the giveaway. I’d love a copy of the book!
I have this one on my shelf