Win Hot Chocolate Maker

We use a lot of things in our homes ranging from barstools, to pillows, to cups, to clothing, to food.  As foodie bloggers and readers we focus on food but unless you eat everything raw you have to prepare it in some fashion.  A lot of the chocolate your Chocolate Priestess reveals to you requires no preparation but some of it including baked goods and hots drinks does require pots, pans, cups, plates and other ingredients.  The folks from CSN Stores contacted me and asked if I'd do a promotion with them so I chose to look at the Bonjour 32oz French Cafe Hot Chocolate Maker that they offer through some of their stores.

 Inside the box are three individual parts to the maker including the pot which has a cute picture on it of a kid's hot chocolate stand, a lid, and a mixing unit or frothing device.  The pot can be cleaned in the dishwasher, it goes in the microwave to be used, and comes out very cleanly.  Be careful though because the handle gets hot, too.  The lid can be easily rinsed off since it really doesn't come into contact with any liquid only steam.  The mixing unit is more complex.  It requires two AA batteries and it cannot be submerged to be washed ever so I used a brush and some soapy wash and rinsed off the rotating part to clean mine.

It comes with a six panel booklet about the caring for it, using it and four recipes of which I tried out three -- one for white, one for milk and one for Mexican hot chocolate.  The recipes don't describe what type of milk you should use but I used 1%.  Do not go over the 4 cup amount or you will have too much liquid in the pot to work. The recipes didn't say how long to heat everything in the microwave so I strongly recommend you do it at a minute a time as you would to melt chocolate in it.  While the booklet claims you can just mix it all with the mixing unit I found this to be untrue.  Once the lid is on the mixer cannot reach the lower half of the pot and any chocolate and milk will not be mixed up no matter how many minutes you run it.  I used a wooden spoon instead to mix it all during heat and before serving.  The mixing unit is supposed to froth it all up and it didn't do that either.  It does make about 32oz of hot chocolate which can serve 4-6 people depending on your mug size and everyone I served over three nights we tried it thought it was adorable and the hot chocolate tasted good.  For cuteness and pouring, this was worth the $20 it costs but you must stir it and watch your timing when you heat up the ingredients.

Giveaway Now Closed.

Sisters and Brothers, may you, too, take the time to slowly appreciate what the Divine and human ingenuity have offered you in chocolate.