Rum Spiked White Hot Chocolate

Welcome to day four of The Twelve Boozy Days of Christmas!

Perhaps I have been living under a rock, but it has only been in the last few years that I have really heard of white hot chocolate. Not that it takes a rocket scientist to swap out milk chocolate for white chocolate but I surely didn’t think of it. Now, even though I started noticing it popping up at Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks I still never tried it. “Why would I?” I thought to myself.  I already know that “normal” hot chocolate is delicious. I was doubtful that a white hot chocolate would be better. Well. I was wrong. White hot chocolate is delicious. It’s creamy and full of warm vanilla flavor. Plus a touch of rum is added at the end to give it a little kick. While I may recommend leaving the rum out if you opt to make this in the morning, I wouldn’t judge you if you left it in 🙂

Rum Spiked White Hot Chocolate

Yield: 4 drinks

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 vanilla bean
3 cinnamon sticks
1 t. whole cardamom, lightly crushed
4 C. whole milk
4 oz. white chocolate
1 T. rum
Whipped cream - for serving

Source: Sweet Paul Magazine

Directions:

Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
Place the seeds, bean, cinnamon, cardamom and milk in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat. Let the spices infuse the milk for 20 minutes. Strain and remove the spices. Heat the milk again, add chocolate and rum and stir until the chocolate has melted. Serve with whipped cream.