“Hello, every creature. We are in the studio kitchen today for a recipe brought to you by myself, the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The pony performer announced to every creature for today, “Life on the road can be hard, with only your vehicle as a companion. This comes true for when the winter hits. What warms me up is a perfect hot chocolate as the ingredients come cheap when you have little bits in your purse. So that’s what we’re going to show you all today.”
“And what is the Great and Powerful Trixie’s secret to a good hot chocolate, Trixie?” Starlight asked, deciding to play long with her antics in the kitchen for today. She, along with everypony else, was surprised when Trixie proposed another cooking tutorial, with herself showing them a recipe. The others were intrigued and allowed her to have free rein of the studio kitchen.
“Well, I’m glad you asked,” Trixie began, “What is key is the type of chocolate you use and the proportion of canned milk and cream. My preferred blend is two-parts whole milk to one-part heavy cream, which we are going to heat up on the stove. On the road, I require the camp fire. Tempest, could you heat the cream with the proportions I have instructed.”
Tempest used her magic to spark up the stove and began adding the proportions as Trixie instructed.
“Just a little top for you all, dear listeners,” Trixie added as Tempest got to work, “For extra creaminess, you can add some evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk. Tempest, continue heating and whisking together over medium heat, but not boiling,”
Tempest just nodded as she continued to mix the mixture.
“Starlight, now you add two tablespoons of coco powder, chopped dark chocolate chunks for sweetness and half-a-cup of sugar,” Trixie turned to Trixie next.
“On it,” Starlight lit up her horn, causing a shelf to open as she got the knife to cut the chocolate into easy-to-melt chocolate chunks. With her levitation, she added the coco powder, chunks of dark chocolate and sugar as Trixie told her. The air in the kitchen began to fill up with the scent of sweet chocolate.
“For a little flavour boost, you can also add a pinch of salt, cinnamon powder, coffee powder. It won’t cause your hot chocolate to be tasting of coffee, but to enhance the chocolatey-ness of it,” Trixie explained as everypony else looked at her in confusion.
“Coffee and hot chocolate, who would have thought of it?” Sunset said rhetorically.
“What is important is to taste as you go until you get a preferred chocolatey taste,” Trixie explained, she used a teaspoon to get some of the mixture to sample. Blowing on the spoon first, she put some in her mouth, her eyes and mind working to see if the combination was right. She smiled.
“I take that it’s perfect?” Starlight giggled at Trixie’s happy face.
“More than perfect!” Trixie exclaimed, “It’s delightful. The kitchen is much better than the campfire.” Sunset got out four mugs for the group.
“And now time for the fun part, assembly!” Trixie giggled in excitement, “Pour the hot chocolate until it’s about half to three-quarters full. Then it’s time for the whipped cream.” Starlight got Pinkie Pie’s 100% satisfaction guaranteed whipped cream.
“Pinkie was adamant that we use her whipped cream, but since she’s Pinkie, I bet it’s the best whipped cream ever.”
“Seriously,” Sunset sighed, “Who would need that much whipped cream in their fridge?”
“Only Pinkie Pie,” Starlight teased, “In both CHS and Equestria.” Starlight began to swirl the whipped cream into each mug.
“Next you need chocolate shavings using a block of chocolate and a grater,” Trixie instructed. Tempest got to work on that for each mug.
“Put a large marshmallow on top, and use a torch or a light to lightly brown it to whatever stage of caramelisation you want.” Sunset got to work for each marshmallow, using a heating spell to turn the marshmallows into a lovely burnet brown.
“And Voila! That is how you make the perfect hot chocolate for the road. Go on, try it! You’ll love it!” The others dug right in, taking a happy sip from their mugs. When their mugs were put back onto the kitchen bench, they all had cream and chocolate shavings around their mouths.
“This was just as perfect as the one on Hearth’s Warming Eve,” Starlight complimented.
“I might show it to my friends for the holidays,” Sunset noted.
“It’s delicious!” Tempest replied as well.
“Thank you, Trixie, for showing us your recipe. We will be back soon, but right now, we will be enjoying out hot beverages!” Trixie rounded off for the day.