Hello and merry Christmas. Welcome back to the Cupcake Gemma channel with me, Gemma. I've got my party earrings on. I'm all set for Christmas. I hope you guys are, too. There's one thing you're going to need, especially if you live in a cold country like me. Hot chocolate. Now, hot chocolate is my go-to beverage basically from about October. As soon as it starts getting a bit chilly, tea can get in the bin. Coffee. I still do need coffee in the morning, but if I'm going out and about, I will always order a hot chocolate. And I'm a bit of a connoisseur. I think we do an amazing hot chocolate in Crumbs and Doilies. We use chocolate ganache, which is obviously a bit of a labor of love. I have a trick up my sleeve for making a

hot chocolate at home cuz I quite often do it for Eden, especially when she comes in from school and she wants a little sweet treat. I like to bond with her over chocolate. My hot chocolate recipe is something you can prepare in advance and then use as and when you need to. And it is, let's see, 1 2 3 4 5 ingredients. No, six. And actually, some of those are optional. So, this could be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. And it's definitely customizable. So, if you don't like everything that I do, go ahead and change it. Please don't ask permission. Just do your thing, guys. Basically, it's an instant hot chocolate, except it's not storebought and it's not full of like gross weird things that you

don't know what they are and you look at the ingredients list. So, I have a little food processor here. You can do this in a big food processor or something like a Neutra Bullet works really well. Into that I'm going to put my chocolate. Now I'm using a dark chocolate which is 56% cocoa solids. You could use a 70% if you wanted something a little bit more rich and you wanted to maybe control the sweetness a little bit. Um I like this one. It's really inoffensive especially with a small kid. Although to be honest surely anything chocolatey. So I have 100 g of that. I'm also going to add some cocoa powder just to really boost that flavor. I've got 60 g of that. Now for a bit of sweetness. This again is customizable and optional. You don't

even have to put any sweetness in if you don't want if especially if this is for kids and you really don't want the sugar bouncing off the wall vibe. I don't mind a little bounce. So, I'm putting in some sugar. I would recommend putting anywhere between 20 and 40 g of sugar. And I'm using something called rapidura sugar, which is basically an unrefined cane sugar. It's a bit like soft brown sugar. So, if you can't find that, just use that. Or you could use dark brown sugar. Basically, I like a nice molassesy flavor. I'm actually putting in 30 g, but I would say 40 g is the maximum for sweetness. Now, this next bit is very optional. I'm using toasted cocoa powder, mainly because I just had

some lying around. I always like to have a bit of toasted milk powder in my pantry just because it's really good to add to things to give it a bit more of a sort of toasty flavor. And this is what this does. And it also almost makes it malty, which is really lovely, without having to use malt powder, which again has loads of other stuff in it. So, I'm using 40 g of that. And again, that's optional, especially if you want to make this plant-based. Just leave that one out. And then a good pinch of sea salt. And lastly, I'm putting in vanilla. Now, if you don't have vanilla pods, that's fine. You will put the vanilla in when it comes to the liquid pot. I'm using vanilla pods because I got sent a load

of vanilla recently. And they sent me so many vanilla pods. And actually, I hardly ever buy vanilla pods cuz they're a bit of a treat. And they sent me a load of different ones from different countries. Obviously, the most famous one is the Madagascar, and that's got the classic vanilla flavor. I did try with tahini. tahini tahesian beans, but actually these are really fat and juicy and they were a little bit wet for this particular thing. So, I would recommend if you're going for like a sort of single origin vanilla bean vibe, the Madagascar or Ugandan beans, they're just a little bit drier and not quite as jammy as the Tahesian one. All you do to prepare your vanilla pods, with a sharp

knife, just cut them right down the center lengthwise. And then using the tip of the knife, just scrape those beans all out. Now, please do not throw away the pod because there is still so much good vanilla flavor that you can extract from that. You could put that into like a bit of vodka and then it you would basically leave it in there to steep and it make its own your own um vanilla extract. You could completely blitz that up in a food processor with caster sugar or granulated sugar to make your own vanilla sugar. And you could even put that in the freezer in a ziploc bag and then when you need to make custard or something like that, you can just whack that into the milk to infuse

the milk. Like there's so many things you could do. Please do not throw that away because it's super high value item. We've got everything we need in our little food processor thingy. And now all that remains is to blitz that up. So go ahead and blitz it. Now, we're not trying to get this to a really fine consistency. Obviously, we've got chocolate chunks in there. They're going to take a little bit longer to whiz up. Um, and it's okay if there are a few little lumps and bumps in there. Um, what we're just trying to do is to mix it up and make it a little bit smaller so that it's easier to melt the chocolate.

Oops. Uh, can't fit it in my jar. But that's okay because I'm about to actually make some hot chocolate for myself. But first, I'm going to make something very special. This, again, is completely optional, but you know, it is Christmas, so let's really go crazy. I'm going to make homemade marshmallow fluff. So, this is a really nice recipe. It's a similar technique and similar ingredients to an Italian meringue. And you could make Italian mering if you wanted it to be a little bit more light. But a true homemade marshmallow fluff needs to be sort of spreadable. And there is a different ratio of sugar to liquid glucose or any invert sugar. In Italian meringue, I would put a tiny bit of liquid glucose just to stabilize the

meringue. But in this one, we kind of flip it on its head and put way more of the invert sugar syrup. And in this case, I'm going to be using golden syrup, which is a kind of invert sugar syrup. I think it's got a really great flavor, which just adds something extra to this whole fluff business. If you didn't have this, you could use corn syrup, or you could just use straight up liquid glucose. Any of those will do. But because it's such a sticky nightmare, I'm going to actually weigh it into the saucepan rather than put it in a bowl and then like scrape it out and therefore lose bits. So, make sure you've got some scales. I'm weighing out 145 g of golden syrup, which does sound

like a lot, but I promise you this actually doesn't taste that sweet overall. Then to that, I'm adding 50 g of water and 85 g of caster sugar. And then I'm popping in a sugar thermometer just to make sure I can keep an eye on the temperatures. And I'm setting that over a medium heat. Now, what we're ultimately looking for is a temperature of 115° C. So, let that bubble away. But when it gets to 110° C, that's when you can start whisking your egg. And I'm using 60 g of egg. Just get that going on a medium to high speed. And then what you're aiming for is a soft peak consistency. By the time your syrup has reached that 115, 116° C temperature.

Once your syrup reaches 115° C, your egg whites should be soft peaks. And now you need to pour that very carefully while the mix is still going around quite fast. Ideally down the side of the bowl so it doesn't spray everywhere cuz this is very, very hot. Pour it all in. And when you finish, just let that whisk on that medium high speed for 7 to 10 minutes until the bowl is cool to the touch. Now, when it's nearly at the end of its mixing life, you can add your flavoring. So, I'm going to add a bit more vanilla. And I'm also adding a little pinch of salt. And then you need to just let that whisk until it's sort of stiff peak. So, I'll show you what it looks like.

It's It's pretty glorious, right? Look at that. That's a stiff peak if ever I saw one. And I did actually taste this already. It is delicious. It's got a really nice light texture. Definitely spreadable. Some people put this on their toast and that's fine if that's you. That's not me. So, I'm going to just get this off the whisk and then put it into a piping bag. Now, obviously, this is way more marshmallow fluff than one person really needs. And I'm actually here on my own, so this is going to be big time too much. But this is why it's great to make this in the holiday season because you

can make loads and loads of delicious hot chocolates with marshmallow fluff for your friends and family or whoever you're spending Christmas with. But if you don't want to use it or if you're, you know, solo for some reason on Christmas day, um, you can just keep this in the piping bag and put it in the fridge. It will be a little bit fluffy when you pipe it out the next day, um, or after a period of time. But what you can do is if you want to, you can re- whisk it and it smooths all those bubbles out. Anyway, I'm just doing this for myself. I might just, you know, spend the evening with my excess marshmallow fluff. But for now, I'm going to cut a hole in my piping bag. You can actually use a

nozzle for this, and it does make it like nice and clean, but I don't have quite the right nozzle here for my preferred size. And you want it to be nice and fat so that you get a nice big generous piping of the marshmallow fluff. And choose your receptacle. I have this little number which I picked up at IKEA which is just right. And I'm going to just very carefully pipe onto the rim of my cup. Now, I think we can all agree what's going to happen in the future. Future me is going to get a lot of marshmallow fluff all over my mouth. It's going to be messy. But, you know, if you can't get a little bit messy at Christmas, I

don't know what is the point of life. Now, this isn't finished, you guys. This requires heat. And I have my trusty blow torch. So, I'm going to toast it. Okay, we're in business. Now, what we need to do is fill this bad boy with hot chocolate. So, I'm going to use really, really good quality creamy milk. I got mine from the Milkman. It's a silver top. Uh, it's delicious. It's got a bit of cream on the top, but use whatever milk you like. If you are doing plant-based hot chocolates and you haven't used a toasted milk powder, obviously this works really well with any kind of milk alternative. Um, I like it with oat milk actually. It's really

nice. What else do I need to tell you? Oh, yes. So, depending on the size of your mug, you'll want anywhere between like 200 240 g of milk to fill your cup. And for each cup, I would recommend using 2 to 3 tablespoon of your mixture, uh, which is filled to the brim and going to explode. Oh my gosh, that's full. So, start by heating up your milk in a small saucepan. You're aiming for it to be steaming. At which point, lower the heat. And we're going to put 2 to 3 tablespoons. I am going to do some I'm going to do like in the middle 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of my hot chocolate mixture. And then using a little whisk or a spoon or a spatula or something like that, gently stir it until all the chocolate's

completely melted and there's no lumps. I always decant mine into a jug before pouring it into my marshmallow hole. And then just fill your cup up with that lovely, luscious, deluxe hot chocolate. Mhm. Look at that steamy hot chocolate. Now, there is no polite Well, there is a polite way to eat this. It involves a spoon, and I guess I could do that. Let's uh let's just get a little bit of it all on a spoon because Oh, I have made a mess. put a saucer out, but I'm I haven't brought the saucer with me. But anyway, here we go. That's absurd. Utterly absurd. M. Hang on. I need to make way for my mouth.

This fluff is so smooth. And actually, despite the fact that it is like 90% sugar, it doesn't taste that sweet. M. That is delicious hot chocolate. Really, really delicious. I'm going to like It's kind of a weird thing to do, but it's like you're eating your cup. I've got hot chocolate all over my jumper. You can't see this, but it's it's all down there from splattering. So warming and comforting and rich and messy. You don't need the marshmallow fluff, but for a celebration, why the heck not, guys? It is Christmas after all and you

could do this any time of year. And like I said, you can do this for one. That is the beauty of having a jar of ready to go hot chocolate mixture that you've made yourself. You know exactly what's in it. It's got no weird thickeners. You know, it's actually got chocolate in it, which is rare these days. Oh my god, I love hot chocolate so much. Oh, hi. You're still there. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this and I hope you make this over Christmas for your family, your friends, for your colleagues, for anyone who loves a warm beverage, sweet treat. I hope that you give this a go. I really do because it's so fun and just really handy to have. I'm going to get all this marshmallow fluff in into my hot chocolate. I'm just going to see

what happens. It's probably going to melt and be really yummy and messy and delicious. But anyway, you do whatever you want to do with yours. And I'll be back after Christmas with more stuff from me, the Crumbs and Doilies team. And I'm wishing you the best, happiest, most glorious, wonderful, abundant, safe, healthy, peaceful Christmas. I wish you all the very best. Um, I love you all. It's been great sharing all my recipes with you this year and I look forward to sharing more with you next time. See you. Heat.