Single-serve Honey Hot Cocoa

True confessions: I never serve my kids hot cocoa. With them, it’s a hot, sticky mess that is not worth it to me. I guess that’s mostly because I am not a Swiss Miss. (or Mrs.) Go with real chocolate and milk or go home. So, now that I’ve bared my soul about being a cocoa snob I’ll tell you how to make one cup to enjoy by yourself for a quiet evening after the busy littles are in bed.

Gather your ingredients:

• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Honey
• Vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• Milk (I like whole milk)

I’ve found that procedure sort of matters here:

1. Boil a small amount of water in a kettle or the microwave. 
2. Use a metal tablespoon to measure 2 Tbsp cocoa powder into a microwave safe mug. 
3. Using the same spoon, measure about 4 Tbsp boiling water into your mug. If you do this in a leisurely way, the spoon will warm up sufficiently to let the 1 Tbsp* of honey you’ll add next slip right out into the mug.
4. Add a pinch of salt and 1/4 t vanilla. Use a fork to stir well, until there are no more lumps. Pour in milk to fill your mug the rest of the way.
5. Heat in the microwave until hot, stirring partway through. Add more honey to taste.

*About all this measuring: My dad, the chemist, always touts the benefits of reproducible results. I’m an eyeballer for lots of things but I like to have this cocoa be consistently good and not too sweet…