Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Hotel Hot Chocolate and the Princesses of Pandemonium



Once upon a time there were five little princesses. Well, perhaps there were really five precocious 4th grade art girls who decided to pretend to be high society princesses.

They spent time practicing their British accents and sticking their pinkie fingers out just precisely so from their colorful little cups of hot chocolate. The loudest and most dramatic of the girls thought they needed ages. She would be 26 years of age and the rest chose to be 2, 7, 9 and 16.

As practice for their future years as members of the public these five princesses took turns talking in extra polite voices while sipping delicately from their cups, but soon enough pandemonium would come.

When girls aged 2, 7, 9 and 16 decided they wished to be heard above girl aged 26’s growing chatter, their calm politeness turn to shrieks of high society mockery.

Or perhaps it was all those refills of hot chocolate or the generous marshmallow to hot chocolate ratio. For it didn’t take long for girls aged 26, 9, and 7 to follow girl aged 2 into diving face first into their popcorn. Giggles and growls were heard among bites, chews and gulps.

Except for one. Girl aged 16 must have been more resistant to the effects of sweet warm hot chocolate than girls aged 2, 7, 9 and 26. For she stuck her pinky out as far as it would go, held her head high and delicately ate her snack. This of course made the other girls laugh and screech louder. For they decided behaving like animals was more amusing than life as high society princesses.

Maybe it would be best to limit real high society princesses to water and gruel. For common princesses are fortunate. When they wiggle and worm in their seats they get to jump up and run out the door to play in the dirt, trees and hills of kind neighbors who share their yard with excitable children.

Common high society imaginary animal princesses are very lucky indeed.

The Maidstone Arms’ Hot Chocolate
Print Recipe
Years ago, my friend Julie and mother of Princess aged 16 clipped this recipe out of "The Oregonian" newspaper. Julie remembers reading that this hot chocolate is served at a nice hotel, and from the title it might be The Maidstone in East Hampton. If you have details please let us know.

8 ounces of high-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup light or dark corn syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
6 to 8 cups milk (or half & half or, what the heck, whipping cream)

Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine water, corn syrup and sugar. Bring just to a boil and pour immediately over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is melted and completely integrated, then whisk in butter. (At this point, the mixture can be refrigerated for up to a month.)

Place chocolate mixture and milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until very hot but not boiling. If desired, top with whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder. Serve immediately.

For individual serving, stir 2 heaping tablespoons of the chocolate base into 1 cup milk, or to taste.

Julie's Notes:
I usually use Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips and grind them up in the food processor so they melt easily.

I use more like 1 heaping tablespoon for an individual serving and even less for Adelia.

Laura's Notes:
For the kiddos, I like to use low-fat milk, 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, a 1.55 ounce Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar and a tablespoon of cocoa powder. I grind the chocolate and cocoa powder in a food processor because I'm lazy.

Story and picture Copyright Laura Flowers 2011. The Maidstone Arms’ Hot Chocolate might be from the Maidstone Hotel.


4 comments:

stephchows said...

I love the pink in the air LOL too cute :)

Joanne said...

It sounds like you made some little girls very happy with this hot chocolate!

Veronica said...

Aw, so sweet! I've never heard of corn syrup in hot chocolate and intrigued indeed!

Sue said...

Fun times:)

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