One Ingredient Challenge: Cocoa

Part of an ongoing series of cooking from scratch. That is, we cook something from basic items that don't have multiple ingredients (e.g. store-bought spaghetti sauce includes all sorts of spices and maybe other stuff too; we'd start with tomatoes and individual spices and add them together to make our own sauce). See other challenges here.

L has learned to love those instant breakfast drinks where you just stir the packet of powder into a glass of milk and there's a yummy snack for you. The makers load it up with vitamins to make it healthy but we already have her on a children's multivitamin, so it's probably redundant except for the calcium boost.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter to the rescue! The book has a recipe for cocoa mix that's cheaper than even regular hot chocolate mix like Swiss Miss or Carnation. The recipe is simple--one and a half cups dark brown sugar, one cup cocoa powder, and two teaspoons of kosher salt. Just sift all the ingredients into a bowl. If any of the sugar or salt doesn't make it through the sifter, throw it in the bowl and whisk vigorously. L was happy to make her own powder.

The ingredients already mixed!

Our first experiment was with cold milk. The book says to mix two tablespoons of powder per cup of milk. It was a total failure. The powder didn't mix into the milk and L really didn't like it.

Cold fusion doesn't work

Our next experiment was with hot milk since that is what the book really says.

Much better mixing

L tried it and didn't like it. She said it wasn't like the instant breakfast. The book recommends adding a quarter teaspoon of vanilla for flavor but L could not be convinced to try it. I tried the hot chocolate and found it tasty but not very sweet. I'd gladly drink it as hot chocolate, and I suppose I will have to since L won't.

The face of underwhelment

We also tried mixing in some powdered milk and that has converted L into a cocoa drinker.

Parisian Food

One of the best things about visiting Paris was the food. My wife had been there before and had fond memories of the breads and pastries. Our rental agreement for our apartment included a list of the best local establishments, so we went to Le Pétrin d'Antan on rue Ordener since it was listed as the best bakery. On the way, we discovered a street market with all sorts of goodies for sale.

Fish so fresh, they stare at you!

Beef Bourguignon at 9 a.m.!

We did buy some cheeses from the cheese stand. Finally we arrived at the bakery.

Le Pétrin d'Antan

They didn't have any seating, so we went back to our apartment to enjoy our baguette with cheese and other yummy pastries, including chocolate chip croissants, an apple tart, and a caramel-glazed roll.

Yummy pastries, goat cheese, and baguette on our wacky table

The grocery stores also provided some treats for us to try, though the kids wanted to stick with pasta as often as possible. We made some fondue with cheeses from both the street market and the supermarket. It turned out well, especially with fresh baguettes. The bread was great.

In the wintertime, many cafes and restaurants offer hot chocolate, but not like any hot chocolate we have ever had before. These drinks were virtually melted chocolate bars. They were very thick and very creamy and very much needed a spoon for the bottom of the cup. L was in Heaven.

Chocoholic Cutie

One morning I had tea, which came in the most interesting pot/cup/saucer combo I had ever seen. Secretly, I want one of these at home!

What they bring to the table

Broken down for drinking

We had many fine meals, some out and some in.We tried to find French Onion Soup, but none of the ones we tried were as good as we hoped. We did find croque-monsieur, a ham and cheese sandwich grilled to perfection. They even have croque-madame, the same sandwich but with scrambled eggs on the outside, as if they made the sandwich with French toast. Sometimes the egg is just fried and put on top. Either way is pretty delicious.