Warming up to 2010

A quartet of hot drinks to warm up the chilly start to the year - hot ginger, warm lemon tea with honey, chunky cappucino and our new flavour - hot dark chocolate with a hint of chilli. If you have never tried chilli with chocolate, give this a go. The slightly delayed "nip" just amplifies the chocolate hit. Naughty and nice, but not really new - the ancient Aztecs and Mayans were the first known civilizations to serve hot chocolate, flavoured not with sugar, but with chilli pepper. A real multi-tasker that chilli.... flavoursome, fiery and fabulous. For in-depth chilli Magog Muffins enjoys "Nagachilli"'s blog (and twitter @nagachilli) where we found this Aztec offering for hot choc drink:

One and two thirds cups milk, half a vanilla bean, split lengthwise, one red chili pepper, split with seeds removed, one cinnamon stick of around three to four inches, half an ounce of chocolate (bittersweet) . Simmer milk in a saucepan with vanilla bean, cinnamon and chili. Heat through for about a minute. Whisk in grated chocolate, and continue to simmer until melted. Remove from heat and let ’steep’ for another 10 minutes. Strain out the spices and serve. For maximum impact drink with a choc/chilli muffin......


And the Royal Mail is still getting them through, despite the snow. Until our new website and payment mechanism is up and running you can still order by e-mail or PayPal - see post "Magog Muffins on the Move" or MagogMuffins@gmail.com.