Don’t Judge Me Mondays: Ghostly Cocoa (Pumpkin White Chocolate)!

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Happy Halloween everyone! How are you all celebrating?  When we moved into this house six years ago, my husband decided then and there he wanted us to be the “cool house on the block”.  This means we are the house that hands out full size candy bars!  It’s fun to see little kid’s faces light up when they dig into our bowl.  We hear quite a few “Whoa!  They have big candy bars!”.  It’s pretty great. 🙂

Anyway, since it’s Halloween I wanted to share a drink that could also be made non-alcoholic if you have little ghouls and goblins you might want to share this with.  I also thought it’d be fun to make something warm for those of you in areas where the weather is starting to cool.  Finally, I knew I needed something “Halloweeny” in flavor and color. What came about was this cocoa made with pumpkin, white chocolate and a little bit of cinnamon.  There’s also several ways to decorate this cocoa to make it more festive.

Let’s get to it!

I’m going to start with the decorations I used, since those take longer. I made a batch of my vanilla marshmallows and dyed them orange using yellow and red food coloring. Once they were set, I used a biscuit cutter that was slightly smaller than the opening of the mug I was going to serve the cocoa in, to cut them into circles.

Then I melted some bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler and used it to pipe cobwebs on the marshmallows.  To do this, I piped concentric circles and then swept a toothpick from the center to the edges to get a webbed effect. It’s a really neat decoration!  If you don’t have the time to make marshmallows, you could make little spiders by sticking pretzels or thin licorice vines into large store-bought marshmallows.  You could also top the cocoa with whipped cream and drizzle a cobweb on that with chocolate syrup.

To make the cocoa first whisk together the milk, cream, pumpkin, cinnamon and salt in a medium pot until smooth and put over medium-low heat.

Then add the white chocolate chips. Whisk occasionally until the chips are melted and incorporated.  Heat for about 10 minutes, or until hot.  If the cocoa starts to bubble, turn down the heat so you don’t scorch the milk.

Now strain the cocoa with a fine mesh strainer.  The pumpkin adds some texture, so you’ll need this step to make a smooth cocoa.

Take the cocoa off the heat and add the rum, if everyone is having the alcoholic version.  Otherwise, get out your mugs and give those who want it an ounce of rum, pour the cocoa over and stir to blend it in.  Ladle the cocoa into the remaining mugs, garnish and serve.

This recipe makes 6-8 mugs of cocoa.

Have a Happy Halloween!