Swedish White Hot Chocolate

This was sooooo good ... totally a little on the rich side, but sometimes you just gotta let loose and have fun!

Ingredients:

4 cups whole milk
8 ounces white chocolate chips or shaved white chocolate
2 Tb. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Cinnamon

Method:

In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm the milk slowly. Then add the sugar and stir in the chocolate. Stir until all is well blended.

At the very end add the vanilla and then serve, with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top!

And if you have a hot chocolate machine (like a Cocomotion), just put in the milk and sugar and set it to warm the milk. When it was done with it's cycle, add the white chocolate and stir gently by hand until the chocolate was well blended. Then set it to cycle again, when it is done, add the vanilla, stir and serve.

It is more authentic to add some orange rind, I just didn't have any, so give it a try if you have some, it sounds delish!

Traditional Swedish Pancakes

I found this recipe on RecipeZaar and immediately fell in love when the author stated that when she was in Sweden, the children would eat these pancakes with Rainbow Sherbet! Funny thing, we have Rainbow Sherbet in the freezer ... looks like we're having pancakes.

I altered the recipe just a bit, and I was very pleased with how they turned out.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups low-fat milk

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tb. sugar

4 Tb. butter, melted

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with one cup of the milk. Warm the remaining milk in the microwave and add the melted butter to that milk to be used shortly.

Add the dry ingredients to the milk and egg mixture, blend until smooth.

Now add the warm milk and butter and stir just until blended. The mixture will be very runny, don't worry!

Get a good fry pan with a heavy bottom (or cast iron would be even better) and warm it on medium for several minutes before using. Brush oil on the bottom of the pan and then add 1/2 cup of batter. It will spread over the bottom of the pan, let it cook like this for 1-2 minutes, until the underside is lightly browned.

Then flip the pancake and let the other side cook for 1-2 minutes, until done.

Serve immediately, or keep warm in the oven until serving time.

As mentioned above, kids in Sweden eat these with Rainbow Sherbet. My husband and I chose lingonberry preserves and little sprinkle of powdered sugar. And one of the kids opted for maple syrup. Basically, anything goes!