After bringing home our hand-made chocolate from Cozumel this week.  The Mr was chomping at the bit to use it.  Each disk makes two cups of rich, flavorful drinking chocolate when dropped into warm milk and stirred until dissolved.  The most commercially recognizable version is the Abuelita brand which is not only delicious, but it’s really affordable!  I recently enjoyed mixing a packet of their instant variety into a cup of coffee during a long crafting night with a girlfriend from church!  Traditionally, the chocolate is is broken and beaten in the warm milk with a molinillo.  The molinillo is worked back and forth between the palms vigorously until the chocolate is dissolved and a generous froth has emerged on top.

The chocolate we made on our recent cruise excursion in Cozumel was hand-blended by us with brown sugar, vanilla, and warming cinnamon.  We were able to grind roasted cacao nibs into a paste and hand mix it with the other ingredients.  The raw, warm nib was bittersweet and reminded me a little bit of fresh coffee.  I cannot explain what satisfaction we got from getting this hands-on experience and then being able to enjoy our own souvenirs…  The cooler weather lately makes this not unwelcome.

The chocolate dissolved more quickly than I had anticipated and I still got the occasional “grit” of pure cacao nib reminding me just how authentic it was, but the bittersweet chocolate combined with the pure Mexican flavorings made me glad we each had one to ourselves!

What are some of your favorite activities you’ve done on a vacation?