classic Hot Cocoa

1/2 cup sugar
1/4-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup half and half
4 cups whole milk
Whipped Cream or Mini Marshmallows

Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan; add half and half.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.
Simmer 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add milk; stirring constantly, heat to desired serving temperature. Do Not Boil.
Remove cocoa from heat; whisk or beat until frothy. Top with whipped cream or marshmallows.

VARIATIONS – use classic recipe above making the following substitutions:

Skinny Cocoa: Eliminate sugar. Combine cocoa, salt and 1/2 cup skim milk; use 4 cups skim milk or reconstituted non-fat dry milk. Proceed as above. When removing from heat stir in enough sugar substitute with sweetening equivalence to equal 1/2 cup sugar.

Butterscotch Cocoa: replace sugar with 1/4 cup packed brown sugar; before adding milk stir in1 cup butterscotch baking chips (replacing the sugar with brown sugar also goes well Harvest Spice or Peanut Butter Cocoa variations)

Canadian Cocoa: add 1/2-1 teaspoon maple extract after removing from the heat

Cocoa Au Lait: serve with a scoop softened vanilla ice cream on top of each cup

Eggnog Cocoa: eliminate sugar, substitute milk for the 1/2 cup half and half, substitute 4 cups prepared eggnog for milk; sprinkle with additional nutmeg if desired

Harvest Spice Cocoa: add 1-3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice to cocoa powder

Mexican Cocoa: add 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon with cocoa powder

Orange Cocoa: add 1/2 teaspoon orange extract when removing from heat

Peanut Butter Cocoa: replace 1/3 cup white sugar with 1/3 cup packed brown sugar. Add 1/4 -1/2 cup creamy peanut butter before adding milk; stir until smooth, then add milk. (I think you could do the same thing with Nutella)

Peppermint Cocoa: add 1/2 teaspoon mint; add crushed peppermint candies

Almond Cocoa: add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract