So, I made a brief mention of the Holiday Anthology I'll be submitting to in
this post. I haven't said much about it since, but now would be a good time to do so.
The title is
Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology. With 20+ stories in the works, authors include (to the best of my knowledge):
Alexis Woods,
Amelia Mann,
Amy Spector,
Ava Penn,
Claire Davis,
Debbie McGowan,
Hans M Hirschi,
Hunter Frost,
J P Walker,
Jonathan Penn,
K.C. Faelan,
Kathleen Hayes,
L.L. Bucknor,
L.M. Steel,
Larry Benjamin,
Laura Susan Johnson,
Matthias Williamson,
Ofelia Gränd,
Raine O'Tierney,
Rick Bettencourt,
S.H. Allan, and
Shayla Mist. This collection of winter holiday stories ranges from Thanksgiving to New Year's and more.
Needless to say, with so many stories about holidays, there was bound to be mentions of food. All holidays have foods associated with their celebration, some more so than others (especially the winter ones it seems). Thus, our brilliant publisher/editor/co-author had the most wondrously fantastic gem of an idea - a bonus recipe/cook book with featured food and beverage items from various stories. This (to my understanding) is a completely optional participation on the part of each anthology author, but I - overachiever, work-aholic, volunteer extraordinaire that I am - decided that I was definitely going to contribute to this most excellent of compilations.
Now, I know those of you who have read Moonlight & Stained Glass have an idea of just how much importance I place on food - the description of the cooking process, the flavor, the origin of each recipe, etc. So I'm sure you'll be prepared for the blog posts in the days to follow.
Down to the real meat of this post (and the inspiration behind the title). The recipe I selected to contribute is for a delightful concoction known in
Coming in from the Cold as
Duchesne Orange, which is simply orange flavored hot cocoa. I'm a strange breed of woman, for, you see, I dislike chocolate. I rarely crave it, and the only chocolate item I can NEVER turn down is chocolate-raspberry anything. The exception to this quirk of mine are the chocolate oranges sold around Christmas time. I love them. I've tried the lime, raspberry, and blueberry flavored chocolate "oranges" (which is to say, orange-shaped and physically textured), but even the raspberry one could not compare to the perfection of the original chocolate orange. So when casting about my brain for a beverage that isn't a café
cliché, I wondered what orange flavored hot chocolate would taste like and decided that it would be absolutely decadent, robust ambrosia.
My testing ingredients include: Watkin's Orange Extract, orange syrup (recipe available at bottom of post), orange zest, Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips, Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips, Ghirardelli 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate bar, Baker's
German's sweet chocolate baking bar, Hershey's cocoa powder 100% cacao natural unsweetened, Ghirardelli premium baking cocoa sweet ground cocoa, and Abuela's chocolate.
Tonight was the first round of experimenting. I am officially declaring it a monumental success and also eliminating the use of orange zest for further rounds of experiments. While it provides a fresh, delicate orange flavor to the hot chocolate - it is ultimately too difficult/impractical a process to continue for the remaining combinations of ingredients. Since you've been so patiently (maybe?) reading what could possible be the longest blog post I have ever made (with the exception of the ones regarding royalties and the LL call for volunteers), here is a treat in the form of my very first recipe in this kitchen experimentation adventure!
Orange Syrup
© Ava Penn 2014
(I'm sure there are other similar recipes out on the net but this came from my brain on a whim so :P)
1/2 bottle/jug 100%
pure orange juice
1 c sugar
Stir in 1/2 c sugar
at medium heat. When simmers, stir in the remaining sugar. Bring to boil.
Reduce to 1/3 volume. If syrup is too thick, add cold water on medium heat
while stirring until desired consistency is reached.
