Pumpkin Hot Chocolate Recipe with Marshmallows and Whipped Cream

If you’re watching this Pumpkin Hot Chocolate Recipe with Marshmallows and Whipped Cream than you already know that I’m clearly a bit wild haha.  This is what working by yourself all day every day will do to you.  You starve for human interaction so you, or I in this case, resort to acting a fool on camera.  You can ask my wife, I’ve been talking to myself for years.  I’m not having conversations with myself, rather I’m just spouting off any and every thought that comes to mind.  You should see me watching a Mizzou football or basketball game.  I truly believe the coaches, refs and players can hear me so the louder I speak up the better :-).  Well at the very least hopefully you found this video somewhat entertaining.

So now that that is out of the way let’s get into this hot chocolate recipe that is spiked with everyone’s holiday favorite, plum… I mean pumpkin!  Truth be told I don’t even really like pumpkin that much, but everyone I work with seems to so it’s kind of a necessity that I do it every year.  I think my problem is that people just go overboard with it and put it into every single dish on earth, even where it has no place being.  I mean come on dude pumpkin has no business being on a pizza, or shoved into some weird ravioli, and to be honest probably not even in a drink but since all the clowns have glorified it at your favorite local Starbucks, it’s the new norm.  To me the best part about pumpkins are the seeds, or the shelled version which are known as pepitas.  Even better are things like kabocha, or the Andean pumpkin which has a lot more taste than that of subtle flavored fresh pumpkin.  Regardless, it’s October so it’s a pumpkin fest and I’m here to chime in on my version, with a little twist of course.  In the end, I’m sick of pumpkin…

Man, I love sipping on hot chocolate.  It may be the only thing I like to drink all day more than soup broth on cold days.  It may be weird but it’s the truth.  It’s sort of a therapeutic drink, much like coffee, and there is nothing better than tailgating and pulling out the thermos of hot cocoa.  DUDE!!!  SO in light of that, and of people selling their children for pumpkin in October, I came up with this pumpkin hot chocolate recipe.  The flavor is actually really good, and pumpkin and chocolate do go well together so it seemed like a no brainer to put it in a drink.

Here in Chicago we have 2 seasons, Summer and Winter.  We may get a week of what seems like spring or fall but it literally goes from 80° in the summer to like 40° the next day.  Nowhere on earth have I lived where I have seriously put on the heat and the AC in a 24-hour period.  The weather here has issues and now that it’s winter, I don’t care what you say it’s not fall, this pumpkin hot chocolate is perfect!  To get the most chocolate flavor out of this recipe I made a sweet ganache by combining bittersweet chocolate, sugar and heavy cream and heated it up over low heat until it’s melted.  The cream helps to make this drink a little richer so I think you should do it.  Just do it ok?

I finished off the sweet ganache by adding in a vanilla bean sliced in half, some pureed baby foooo, I mean pumpkin puree, and some whole milk.  Gave it a few whisks until it was hot and then strained it through a fine mess strainer, or as I said in the video, “chinois.”  Running through the strainer helps to get rid of any access pumpkin puree for a nice smooth beverage.  I topped the pumpkin hot chocolate off with some marshmallows which I toasted up for a nice little extra toasty flavor and then plopped a gigantic spoonful of fresh whipped cream, which I did whip by hand and yes your arm will be soar, right on top.  I hit it with a little pumpkin spice, shave chocolate and a cinnamon stick.  Dude this thing is good, is it crazy good like the people who go overboard with pumpkin everything good?  Maybe.  You should just make it and see for yourself.