Mexican Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

• 4 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 capful of vanilla extract
• 1 cinnamon stick
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• pinch of black pepper
• 3 oz. bittersweet chocolate (we used 60% cacao), chopped
  

Combine milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne and black pepper in a heavy-ish saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat.
Cover the pan and let steep for 15 minutes.
Strain the milk (we used a paper towel and a colander, which works well if you don't have cheesecloth or an extra-fine sieve) and discard the cinnamon stick.
Return milk to pan. Over medium-high heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted and completely incorporated.
Drink.

Thoughts: This is absolutely delicious. It is a little spicy, but that's why they call it Mexican hot chocolate. It's pretty thick, so don't use whole milk (the original recipe called for whole milk. Seriously?? Christ). It takes a while for the milk to boil, even over medium-high heat, so be prepared to spend a long time whisking. I'm trying to find out if one can turn it on high heat without burning the milk. We'll see.

Disaster Index: 1-2/10