By Claire Smail

At this time of year sometimes there is nothing better than a hot chocolate. I find it is the perfect ”go to” drink on a frosty, dark wintery night or after a blustery, bracing surf.  In fact I think nothing tastes as good as when you have a hot choc at the beach straight after a couple of hours of surfing.

For the most epic and special hot chocolate I like to make it Tokolate orange flavour and add all the trimmings!

You will need…

1 bar Tokolate orange chocolate (or your choice of flavour)

1 tsp coco powder (optional for an extra chocolatey flavour)

Half a cup whole milk

Quarter of cup boiling water

Marshmallows (optional bonus)

“Squirty” cream (not optional in my opinion)

How to make…

In a sauce pan place 3 blocks of orange Tokolate and the half a cup of milk (I have found using a pan is the best way to melt the chocolate without burning it but you can also use a microwave and lots of stirring).  Heat over a low heat until the melted chocolate has combined with the hot milk. Lightly whisk it together with a fork.

Whilst the chocolate and milk are on the stove, boil the kettle. In your mug place the coco powder. Once the kettle has boiled add a quarter cup of boiling water to the mug and whisk together until both ingredients are combined.

When the chocolate milk is ready, I personally like to pour it into a milk frothier just to make it extra light and fluffy. Then I add it to the mug and lightly mix the water and milk chocolate together.

Now it is all about the topping! First a layer of marshmallows, then a generous layer of cream before topping off with a few more marshmallows and sprinkles of Tokolate orange (I grate a block over).

Then all that is left is to (check that is cooled enough to) drink up and enjoy every orangey, chocolatey, marshmallowy sip.