Hot Chocolate #2-Chocolate Chai

It has been raining here.  A lot.  And for days.  It is wet, damp, drippy, grey, dark, cloudy, and frankly a little sad.  My kids have colds and I am not feeling too hot myself.  Naturally, I have been living off of hot chocolate.
As previously mentioned in the post Hot Chocolate #1, I am a fan.  I really love hot chocolate.  Make it a peppermint hot chocolate and I am good to go.  But when it comes right down to it, I am not discriminatory so I like to try new things.  So far, Hot Chocolate #1 is the formula I have been using as a base for experimentation.  I really like the dark, not-to-sweet flavor of cocoa powder.  In the interest of variety, I added some chai tea bags to the recipe to see what would happen.  And it was oh so nice.  The spice is not overpowering, and it is much easier than going out and actually purchasing all the different spices you need to create the flavor of chai.  This is just special enough that it is deserving of a Christmas mug, but not so complicated you can’t enjoy it any day when the temperature takes a dip.  Merry Christmas!
One Year Ago: Mini Corn Muffins

Chocolate Chai
This recipe is just a slight adjustment to the first hot chocolate recipe.  Enjoy!

In a medium saucepan stir together:
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/3 c hot water

Whisk to combine ingredients over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Keep stirring and boil one minute to dissolve the cocoa powder and sugar.  Add: 4 c of milk (I use 3 c of 1% and 1 c of cream or all whole milk) and 6 chai flavored tea bags!  Heat gently and slowly over medium low heat until it is hot and at serving temperature, stirring occasionally.  Let the tea bags steep another 5 minutes in the hot cocoa.  Remove the tea bags, carefully squeezing the excess liquid from them.  Serve with whipped cream.