Spiced Chocolate Coffee

"Too bad, I don't have a slow cooker," our hostess said.

My daughter, our hostess and I were all sitting on her couch leafing through cookbooks. 

We all love to eat and we'd already sampled much good food from seasonal asparagus to the traditional fondue during our visit to Schwyz.

Outside there was still snow on the mountains and chilly, although it didn't bother Einstein, the St. Bernard, sleeping on the deck.

"Why?"

"There's a great recipe for coffee but it needs a slow cooker."

"I've substituted the oven for one at very, very low temperatures," I said.

Her eyes lit up as she read the recipe. So did ours as we listened. 

A trip to the grocery and we were ready for...wait for this...drum roll...

SPICED CHOCOLATE COFFEE

8 cups brewed coffee
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
4-4inch cinnamon sticks broken
1 1/2 whole cloves
Garnish: cinnamon sticks, sweetened whipped cream, cocoa powder or chocolate shavings

Combine first 3 ingredients in a 3-quart slow cooker and set aside. (We used a Creuset casserole with cover)

Wrap spices in a coffee filter or cheesecloth and tie with a kitchen string and add to slow cooker(Casserole) 

Cover and cook on low setting 2 to 3 hours. We put it in the oven for same period at 50°

Remove and discard spices. Ladle into mugs and garnish. Makes about 8 cups.

The recipe is a keeper. 

After I wrote this I realized that my mother used to have a column called "Stove Stories" in the Lawrence Eagle Tribune (yup, she was a writer too) where she gave people's favourite recipes but also the family stories that went along with the dish. Hmmm must be my DNA on many fronts.