I served this luxurious hot chocolate drink on Christmas morning. I felt it was a bit early to start on the fizz, but wanted to hand out something a little special that would perk us all up at such an early hour.

Chocolate works so well with pear. It almost tastes like a dessert and the ginger gives it a wonderful warmth. I used dark chocolate for this. So much nicer than cocoa for that real chocolate hit.

None of us drink coffee or tea, so this was a great choice and we'll definitely be having it again.

If you do need that caffeine hit, you could add a little coffee to this recipe.


Chocolate Milk with Pear & Ginger

Ingredients

200ml semi-skimmed milk (or coconut milk)
40g bar 70% dark chocolate
1 ripe pear
1/2 piece of crystallised stem ginger (I used, 1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger)


Method

1. Break the chocolate into a small pan, add the milk and heat gently until the chocolate has melted.
2. Peel and core the pear, then cut into quarters.
3. Add the pear, chocolate milk and ginger to a blender. Whizz until smooth.
4. You can drink this warm or cold.

Serves 2




Look at that. A lovely, velvet smooth hot chocolate drink, that tastes luxurious!

While we were enjoying our chocolate drinks, we were opening presents. Christmas music was playing in the background and my cat was having a great time playing with the wrapping paper.

What is it with cats and wrapping paper?

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