Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate a la Starbucks

This is heaven sent on a cold wintry day. Make yourself a generous cup of Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and curl up in your favorite armchair and you will cheerily sing 'let it snow, let it snow, let it snow '.

On a recent trip to Starbucks, we had their Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. It was really delicious. I loved the caramel, salt flecks, whipped cream and hot chocolate combination. The next day I set about re-creating this drink. So after a lot of trial and error, I found a recipe that duplicates it exactly as I remember it.

This hot chocolate use cocoa powder instead of chocolate bars, great for the times when your stash of chocolate bars are finished. Use a good brand chocolate powder, I love Pernigotti cocoa. Remember to fill your glass only 3/4  full  so as to leave some space for the whipped cream and caramel.

I adapted the hot chocolate recipe from a recipe by Jeanie Bean at allrecipes.com. And the caramel recipe that I like best was from Simply Recipes ( link provided below ). Please do not be put off by the photo below, this is one of the best hot chocolates I have ever had.

Pistachio, Cashew and Almond Chikki

Chikkis are very similar to Brittles. I call this a modified Chikki as this is not exactly how traditional chikkis are made. Usually there is no addition of baking soda in Indian Chikki recipes. I added this, inspired by the American Brittle recipes, to give our Chikkis a more melt in your mouth texture. So when you bite into this Chikki you do not have to strain your facial muscles or test the strength of your teeth. The addition of baking soda adds tiny air bubbles to the Chikki making it easier to break and easier to dissolve in your mouth.

Try this recipe, it is delicious and I dare you to stop at one piece. I love to nibble on something sweet after lunch and this is one of my favorites, the trick, however, is to stop after one piece. I am still working on that !