Introduction: Extreme Bacon Infused Caramel Hot Chocolate

About: I am married with two children. Spring, summer, and fall are my very favorite times of the year. I enjoy working in the yard, sewing, cooking, quilting, gardening, and creating. I do this to keep my sanity.

Hot chocolate is my favorite hot beverage for those cold snowy days! It soothes the spirit and comforts the soul! Not just any bacon caramel hot chocolate will fit the bill! It must be the real deal to soothe the spirit and sway the soul! You can't go wrong with an"Extreme Bacon Caramel Hot Chocolate."

Follow through and I will prove it to you! By the way don't run away too fast, it taste tantalizing without the bacon flavor!

Step 1: Baking Chocolate and Bakers Sugar

Did you know that on the back label of Hershey's Cocoa is a recipe for Baking chocolate? In my opinion it taste much better than the type you buy in the squares. Do you notice that shortening or oil is one of the ingredients to add to the Cocoa powder to make the baking chocolate? When I grew up bacon fat was often used to enhance the flavor of baked goods, especially in pies. Think of it as a southern baker's butter! I made some baking chocolate using the bacon fat and the flavor was surprisingly good. the bitter-sweet complimented the bacon flavor! If you can't get past the idea of using bacon fat use oil or shortening instead, the flavor just might surprise you!

I would like to share another thing with you about "Bakers sugar." Bakers sugar is a finer grain of regular table sugar. It is not as fine as powdered sugar. You can make your own by grinding table sugar using a coffee grinder or possibly a blender if the blender will blend to a fine texture. Sugar is another ingredient added to Hershey's Cocoa to make baking chocolate.

Whole milk is a luxury in my household. After my children grew up and moved away from home, we do not buy fresh milk, because it spoils before we get a chance to drink it all. I have been buying canned milk and using powdered milk for cooking. When I was a child I grew up on whole milk, in fact, my mother always bought raw milk. I have noticed the milk that is sold today does not have the same wonderful flavor that I remember. Occasionally I will have my husband buy a quart of Price's whole milk. It is better in my opinion than other brands. They sell ice-cream that is pretty tasty also. I am sure that organic milk is even better but I rarely buy organic because of the price.

Step 2: Ingredients and Utensils

  1. Hershey's Coco
  2. Maraschino Cherries
  3. Marsh-mellows
  4. Smucker's Caramel Topping
  5. Whole Milk Room temperature or slightly cooler but not cold.
  6. Bacon Fat
  7. Bakers sugar optional
  8. Pumpkin Spice optional
  9. Bacon

Utensils:

  • Blender
  • Double broiler
  • Wooden spoon
  • Bowl
  • Whisk
  • Jar or bottle with a lid
  • Favorite cup
  • Spoon
  • Skewers
  • Cookie sheet
  • Fine food strainer or paper coffee filter
  • 2 Drinking straws cut to fit your coffee cup
  • Paper towels

Step 3: Measure Ingredients

Recipe:

  • 6 Level Tablespoons Hershey's Cocoa
  • 2-3 Level Tablespoons slightly melted ( not hot )bacon fat ( You want the brown part at the bottom of the jar.)
  • 6 Level Tablespoons Smucker's Caramel Topping
  • 2 teaspoons Bakers sugar or any sweetener

You might want to follow the instructions on the Hersey's can omitting the oil and adding the bacon fat for a smaller amount to test and see if you like it. It should make about 2 cups of hot chocolate.

For the hot chocolate:

  • Whole Milk (as much as needed )
  • Crisp cooked bacon strips (1 per cup of hot chocolate)
  • Pumpkin spice ( optional: dash )
  • 1 Cherry per cup
  • 1 Marsh-mello per cup
  • 2-4 heaping spoonfuls chocolate caramel syrup

Side note:

  • I strained the bacon fat to remove most of the bacon bits, but if your interested in using this for a topping over food, I would leave the small pieces in there.

Step 4: Mix and Heat

Mix the ingredients:

  • Mix the sugar with the Cocoa.
  • Add Caramel to the bacon fat and mix thoroughly.
  • Add the sugar and cocoa mixture to the bacon fat and caramel mixture and mix thoroughly. Please see bottom note before proceeding.

Heat the syrup in a double-broiler until the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from the heat and pour cocoa syrup in a jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator until further use.

Step 5: Bacon Skewer Garnish for Hot Chocolate

Cook Bacon:

Decide how long you want the skewers to be and cut to suit your needs.
Put the bacon on a skewer and form a twist.
Place the skewers on the cookie sheet in such a way that the ends do not get soaked with bacon drippings.
Bake until semi crispy approximately 25-30 minutes.
Set on paper towels to absorb the bacon drippings and allow to cool to touch.
Add a marsh-mellow and a cherry for garnish.

Step 6: Heat Syrup

Heat the syrup mixture for the cocoa:

Heat the syrup mixture in the double broiler until the syrup is melted.
Slowly whisk the room temperature milk into the melted syrup.
Pour into a blender and blend thoroughly.

Step 7: Heat Chocolate Mixture

Pour the cocoa mixture back into the double broiler on medium heat until it begins to froth very nicely but be careful not to scorch the milk.
If it does not froth it is not an Extreme cup of hot chocolate!

Step 8: Serve Hot Coco

Pour hot cocoa into a cup.
Top with a marsh-mellow or whip cream and a dash of pumpkin spice if desired. I added shredded Snicker's bar to the top at the courtesy of my husband who went to the store and brought me home my favorite chocolate candy bar! It was very tasty!
Add bacon skewer.
2 Straws
Enjoy your steaming cup of hot chocolate!

I will let you in on a little secret, the last picture is a steaming cup of coffee! I could not resist adding it to this step . . . because . . . I am mighty proud of that picture because it took 1000 takes to get a steaming picture I was proud of. I am flaunting it here! It may not be perfect, but it was the best one and I was getting tired! If you look real close you should be able to see the steam.

Step 9: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

My husband really loved the hot chocolate. He noticed the bacon and caramel flavor right off! I thought using the recipe for the bakers chocolate gave the hot chocolate a unique blend that caught your taste buds off guard in a pleasant way. I have been experimenting with this recipe and discovered that a change occurs when the syrup is heated and the fat does not float up at the top. You do have some fat there but it is not bad at all in my opinion.

I wish to thank instructables, our sponsors, authors, and loyal readers for making this a great place to share! Please come back soon and have a happy day!
sunshiine

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