Christmas finally arrived

‘Twas the night before Christmas when all thro’ the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse… The silence crackled like static and was heard over my disappointment of not having found the one ingredient I required to have a perfect shot taken for my festive drink. I had searched high and low, prodded, begged and threatened various bakeries and confectionaries, but either it was sold out or they did not make them anymore. Where is the spirit without the availability of candy canes? Yes, plain and simple candy canes with their peppermint flavors and red and white stripes, available year round the world over but traditionally in abundance during Christmas.

My photographer, Nikita, who had so diligently thought out the shot for this simple recipe had searched for it too, but with no luck. She too writes a picture blog which you can view at her website http://nikitamodi.com/blog/, and knows the importance of this one particular ingredient. Well my all time guest photographer had missed an opportunity too.

I had gone to the extent of reaching out to several contacts in Goa (which comes closest to the spirit of the festival, in terms of celebration) but with no luck there too. Well, I had to shelve the whole idea, not because of the prop, but the fact that the recipe would just not be the same without it.

Maybe you would consider this no big deal, but think about Butter Chicken without Butter or Tandoori Food without a Tandoor, you will agree it’s just not the same. A person, who knows how important a certain item is to make everything just right, will understand that sometimes the smallest of things do matter. One such person, a good friend who also writes a blog on photography and is herself a picture enthusiast (you can read up her blog at http://photoppurtunist.wordpress.com/) and obviously knew my predicament for this particular post I had been so longing to capture in pictorial form as well as in writing, kept it in mind and thoughtfully arranged for the candy canes to be flown down from the U.S. of A. On finding the perfect opportunity to do so, she did. Her brother was flying down to India with his family and she had ensured that he brought along a packet of these hard to find candy canes. They flew into Chennai, and were couriered to me well packed in bubble wrap, twice wrapped in cotton and finally packaged in a manila envelope.

It looked as if blood diamonds were brought in when the package finally arrived at my place. A dozen beautifully intact candy canes had finally made its way into my home and Christmas was finally here, no matter if it was a month and a half after. I could not wait to write up about this and cook up the most delicious brew one can possibly whip up during cold wintry nights.

White Hot Chocolate with a dash of peppermint and very traditionally finished off with the sublime candy canes, make for an excellent evening or before bedtime treat. Try this hearty, creamy and rich chocolate drink and I am sure it will remind you of Christmas, no matter what time of the year it is.

Ingredients:

(For 2 piping hot mugs)

• 2 cups full fat milk
• ½ cup Cream
• 1 cup Shredded White Chocolate (one bar of cooking white chocolate should do the job)
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 2 drops Vanilla Essence (or 1 Pod of Vanilla)
• 1 tablsp Caramel Sugar
• A dash of peppermint extract (optional)
• 2 Candy Canes to serve

Heat the milk and cream together on a low simmer and gently heat. Take off the heat and add the chocolate and whisk vigorously till the chocolate has melted. You may put it back to simmer on a tiny flame (if using a full pod of beans, place the beans in the milk at the time of simmering and then fishing them out once the milks heated thoroughly), but ensure the chocolate is well mixed or it will stick to the bottom. Pour out in a tall glass and add the rest of the ingredients.

Take another tall glass and start pouring the milk mixture alternately between both glasses with a little height between them (this will bring about a lovely foam to the milk from the heavy pouring its been subjected to) This takes some practice and you may want to do it carefully lest you land up pouring scalding milk on your hand. Do this a couple of times (you must make sure the milk is piping hot as with a few pours, it will cool down. Finally pour into a mug, top with a candy cane and a slight sprinkle of nutmeg, enjoy in the warmth of a cozy blanket in a chilly (or now with summer around the corner, balmy) verandah.

Good luck on finding those candy canes if you do ever try out this recipe, but I doubt you’d be inclined to bother about the props when the actual drink is what this post should have been all about.