Here’s a fresh, sweet, and cozy springtime treat to enjoy with your family on a cool spring St. Pat’s evening that the vast majority of us will be enjoying cozied up at home!
Safe to say, none of us will be celebrating this St. Patrick’s Day the way we anticipated. Granted, Scott and I weren’t planning on being out bar-hopping, but we usually will have friends over for drinks and themed snacks. We don’t need much encouragement to host.
But that’s not even really an option with a pandemic sweeping the globe and instructions out there to limit personal contact. It’s surreal to go on a walk in the neighborhood without the distant white noise of traffic on the streets. It’s a little scary to see all the empty shelves at the store. And toilet paper is back-ordered everywhere forever. And people are wrestling with making sure they have enough resources and enough mental fortitude to get through waiting this out at home.
We don’t realize how lucky we are to be going through this in the digital age, though. While we have to sift through what’s quality information and what isn’t, we have access a continuous stream of news updates and data. While we might be doing social distancing, we can video chat with family and friends and have virtual coffee dates and combat feelings of social isolation. And we live in an era where you can find a tutorial on how to do literally anything on YouTube.
This is where your crafty blogger friends come in handy. Looking for projects to do with the kiddos when they’re home from school? Need a recipe so you can make use of those cans you have in the back before they expire? Pretty sure someone around here has figured out lots of options. And yes, there are prepper sites out there where people have posted how to make your own TP from recycled paper. People are pretty ingenious, and they’re sharing their ideas all over the internet.
I’m not offering you anything particularly ingenious today. I’m just hopefully offering a little bit of cheer in the form of a hot and sweet cup of minty fresh hot chocolate that you can enjoy either in person with your family at home, or with friends on a virtual hangout. You can have 10 people in a Google hangout, and that should definitely count as a party.
That just sparked an idea. Think I’ll start working on a post on cookbook or cooking parties in the age of digital collaboration and social distancing. There’s more than enough data out there to show that social interaction is a very important part of bolstering your immune system. While we may not be able to gather together in person, we can still share cheer.
[lt_recipe name=”Mint + White Hot Chocolate” summary=”Here’s a fresh, sweet, and cozy springtime treat to enjoy with your family on a cool spring St. Pat’s evening!” servings=”2″ total_time=”10M” print=”yes” image=”https://homefrontcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/White-Mint-Hot-Chocolate-0331-1024×683.jpg” ingredients=”1 cup heavy cream;3 cups milk;1 handful fresh mint leaves;12 oz white chocolate, chopped;2 tsp vanilla;whipped cream for serving;sugar + St Pat’s sprinkles for topping;cookies for garnish” ]Place the cream, milk, and mint leaves in a saucepan and heat over medium until warmed through. Bring to a simmer and remove the mint leaves with a slotted spoon. Reduce heat to low and stir in the chopped white chocolate.;Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.;Serve immediately topped with whipped cream, a fresh mint leaf, and sprinkles.[/lt_recipe]
I garnish with my homemade whipped cream {heavy cream + whisk for about 5 minutes, because it’s that easy and because I hate the canned stuff} and with frosted shamrock sugar cookies! The sugar cookie recipe is my tried and true favorite found right here, just cut with a small shamrock shaped cookie cutter.
Oh, and while this white chocolate recipe is non-alcoholic, if you want to spike your drink, a shot of peppermint schnapps or a shot of Baileys goes great with this recipe!
Stay safe and cozy up, friends!
