My sister gave me an early Christmas present that fuels my creativity and something that I have been missing for some time now. The gift was a lovely book called “The year of cozy: 125 recipes, crafts, and other homemade adventures” by Adrianna Adarme. Only 125 ideas for one year of creativity seems a lot less overwhelming than 365. But really, would I actually make everything in this book? Probably not.

Last year on August 31 I got married and became an instant parent. I love being a bonus Mom! That really changed my life and my time is spent doing different things – like family things and the whole parenting thing. I miss the time that is just my time to create and I feel like I need to claim some of that back for my own mental health, whether the boys are with us or with their Mamma.

So I’ve taken some time to look through this book and choose one thing from each month of the year. That’s only 12 projects from this book. Some I have no interest in like dog treats and others I’m super excited to try like the peanut butter cups. Which I already did, but that was for November so you’ll have to wait for that one.

The author, Adrianna Adarme, is the creator of A Cozy Kitchen. She chose to start the book with the month of October because she loves Fall. The weather does start to get a little cool and like her I do love to curl up on a comfy chair with a good book, a blanket, and a nice cup of tea. I got the book in November. I did make something from November, started a blog post and now it’s the beginning of February. So I’m starting off my year of cozy with January with the hopes of making and doing something from the book once a month and writing about it.

January’s Pick: Hazelnut-Chocolate Hot Toddy

This turned out delicious even though I’d call it a hot chocolate more than a “hot toddy” based drink. Mostly because I didn’t have the liqueur that I had to look up because I had no idea what it was. Just in case you don’t know either, frangelico is a hazelnut flavoured liqueur. It sounds lovely but I didn’t have any and I wasn’t going out to the liquor store during a pandemic just to get this and probably have to wait in line cause it’s a Saturday night. I discovered a lovely substitute is hazelnut extract and that I do have in my cupboard. Thanks to my friend, Heidi, who fuels my extract obsession through Watkins I’m all set in that department!

This was super easy to make and it’s a hot chocolate I could get behind making for the boys – sans liqueur of course! They probably wouldn’t like the hazelnut flavour either so maybe just regular for them with tons of mini marshmallows!

I was skeptical it wouldn’t be like the packaged hot chocolate and be too water based. It’s definitely not like packaged hot chocolate at all. But too my surprise it didn’t seem to watery either. I tried it plain and it was lovely. But I’m a little bit of milk and treated myself with some mini marshmallows. Delicious! I watched way too many Hallmark Christmas movies (43 to be exact) and they had way too many shots of hot chocolate charcuterie boards (ok, maybe only like 3) that ruined me for drinking plain hot chocolate ever again.

If you want to try out this lovely hazelnut-chocolate hot toddy here is the recipe. Feel free to make it your own and experiment with different extracts or liqueurs (if that’s your thing). I’m pretty sure when I get the hankering for hot chocolate I’ll be making this again instead of reaching for the packaged HC.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups hot water
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup Frangelico liqueur OR 1-2 tsp hazelnut extract
• Whipped Cream
• Bourbon (Optional)

Instructions:

1. In a pot set over medium heat, add water, 3 tbsp of cocoa, 3 tbsp of sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves, cocoa is blended and it becomes hot.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the Frangelico OR hazelnut extract. Divide between 2 mugs and top with your favourite toppings like whipped cream or marshmallows, dust with a bit of cocoa if desired. Add in that extra shot of bourbon if that’s your thing – but not if your making it for the kids. Keep that for you.

*You could always make this with milk instead of water. Follow the same instructions, but be careful the milk doesn’t get too hot and burn to the bottom of the pot.

What are your favourite add ons for hot chocolate? Everything or do you like it plain and simple? Let me know what I should try with my hot chocolate in the comments!