I've been very much in the mood for baking lately, but I'm also fighting a cold which means I don't really have the energy to do much. In lieu of baking, I decided to peruse the Cooking in the Archives blog to see what they've been up to. I don't always agree with their interpretations of the recipes they post, but I do very much appreciate the work they do in posting them. I especially appreciate the manuscript transcriptions as I find trying to read 400-year-old handwriting quite difficult most of the time. And even if I would prepare the dish a different way, it's great that they're interested and enthusiastic and putting this stuff out there.

It looks like they most recently posted a seed cake recipe, which I plan on taking a crack at and posting additional commentary on in the near future. I wasn't up for doing anything too involved today though. But... just a little further down the page, they have a hot chocolate recipe. This one really got the creative juices flowing for me. After sitting down a putting together a few different flavour combinations on paper, I decided to give one a try. I went with dark chocolate and orange because TF is a big fan of that particular pairing.

So far it has been a rousing success. TF absolutely loves it! It's dark and rich and not too sweet with a distinct orange kick. I was going for something along the lines of the dark chocolate version of a Terry's Chocolate Orange in drinkable form and TF says I nailed it.

I've used quite a few different ways to add orange flavour to this recipe. I'm sure you could probably achieve the same or very close to the same effect with slightly larger quantities of just one or two of these. It's worth experimenting with before you go out and buy a load of ingredients just for this recipe. I mostly used all these things because I already had them on hand and this seemed like a fun use for them.

Dark Chocolate-Orange Hot Cocoa

Adapted from Cooking in the Archives

Ingredients

Mix

• 100g dark (70%) chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 c. Dutched cocoa powder
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 4 tsp. orange zest
• 1 Tbsp. Cointreau
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. orange flower water
• 1/2 tsp. orange extract
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. orange oil
• 1/16-1/8 tsp. ground cloves¹

To Prepare

• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 4-5 Tbsp. of cocoa mix

Directions

Mix

1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well, paying particular attention to make sure the liquid ingredients don't cause clumps.

To Prepare

1. Warm milk over medium heat until steaming, but not quite boiling.
2. Add cocoa mix and stir until all chocolate has melted and the mixture looks smooth and even.
3. Pour into mug and enjoy.

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¹ I only used a very tiny amount (1/16 tsp.) of cloves. I didn't want the finished mix to noticeably taste of cloves. I just wanted a tiny hint to round out the orange flavour. If you want more of a "spiced orange" flavour, go with 1/8 tsp. of cloves and consider adding 1/4 tsp. of ground cinnamon as well. ^Back