To start off the new Winter Brews project, here is a twist on Mexican drinking chocolate. In Mexico, it is common to mix chocolate with cinnamon and milk to make a warm, thick beverage. This recipe uses 1% milk and cocoa powder, making it slightly lighter. Nonfat milk would make it less creamy and a higher fat content milk will make it more creamy, so use the milk you prefer.

New Mexican Hot Cocoa
adapted from Cooking Light

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of cloves
4 cups milk, 1% or 1/2%
1 tsp vanilla extract
cinnamon sticks for garnish, optional

Combine water, honey, cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves in a medium saucepan. Stirring occasionally, bring to a boil. Gradually whisk in milk and vanilla extract. Heat until hot, but do not boil. Remove from heat and serve with a cinnamon stick if desired.

James found a recipe on WikiHow for Sbiten, a traditional winter drink from Russian made with water, honey, spices, and jam. Before tea and coffee were popular in Russia, Sbiten was consumed during the long winter months. He wanted to give it a try, so I brewed a batch and it was really good!

There are several variations, but we selected this recipe because we are both fans of blackberry jam. Other recipes include up to 2 cups of honey, which seems like it would be overly sweet. This version has a nice balance of spice and sweetness, along with a fruity flavor from the jam. The blackberry jam tastes great, but you could certainly try other flavors.You could also replace the water in this recipe with red wine to make a drink similar to mulled wine.

Sbiten

10 1/4 cups cold water
1/2 cup honey
16 oz (1 lb) blackberry jam
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
sprigs of mint or cinnamon sticks, for garnish (optional)

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Stir in honey, jam, and spices. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring gently. Remove from heat and set stand a couple minutes to cool. Ladle into mugs and float a sprig of mint on top or add a cinnamon stick, if desired.

Note: spices do not dissolve like salt and sugar do, so there will be sediment left from both the spices and the jam. You could strain the liquid, but it is more enjoyable with the spices.

Horchata is a Mexican beverage that translated to Cinnamon Rice Milk. It is made by boiling rice in  a large amount of water and flavoring the “milk” with cinnamon, vanilla, or other flavors of choice such as peach. Sunny Anderson, the host of Cooking for Real on the Food Network, introduced viewers to this delicious drink. This is a fairly simple recipe, both in preparation and execution. I found this to be a very enjoyable drink on a cold, wintry day (like today!).

If the thought of rice milk seems just a little odd, keep in mind that rice milk is also sold at the supermarket as an alternative to dairy milk (along the lines of soy milk, or even coconut milk, which can be used to flavor beverages and dishes). For this recipe, do not use instant rice. Look for long-grain white rice, not brown. If fresh peaches are not available, frozen peaches can be substituted (thaw before using). The trick to this beverage is to blend the mixture completely, then strain the solids to make sure the texture is consistent.

Peach Horchata
adapted from Sunny Anderson

1 cup white rice (not instant)
8 cups cold water, divided
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (3 inch) cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp salt
1 ripe peach, pitted and sliced into 8 wedges
5 cardamom pods, slightly crushed (optional)
Ground cinnamon, for serving

In a large saucepan, stir rice with 6 cups of water, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon stick, salt, peach slices, and cardamom pods (if using). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and cardamom pods.

Working in batches, puree rice mixture in a blender. Pour puree through a fine sieve, pushing through the solids and discarding the large pieces. Return to saucepan and add remaining 2 cups of water. Stirring occasionally, return mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and transfer to a serving pitcher.

To serve hot: pout into mugs, dusting with ground cinnamon as desired.

To serve cold: allow mixture to cool to room temperature, then chill for 2-3 hours. Mixture might be slightly thicker when served cold. If to thick, add a small amount of cold water.

Here is my inaugural recipe for Veganomics and my departing beverage for Smoothie-licious. Did you ever smear a banana with peanut butter and roll it in graham cracker crumbs when you were young? Well, this recipe is like that, but instead of graham cracker crumbs, imagine the banana covered in chocolate.

2 tbsp peanut butter
1 banana
1 cup chocolate soy milk 
6-7 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until very smooth. Reminisce about your childhood as you sip and enjoy.

Economically Friendly: Bananas are inexpensive and peanut butter is a pantry staple.
Ecologically Responsible: Soy milk is environmentally-friendly and the makers of Silk are donating major money to clean energy.
Excellently Healthy: Protein from peanut butter, potassium from bananas, and yummy calcium from soy milk. Just be careful: at approximately 400 calories, this is a meal-replacement smoothie, not just a light snack!

 Normally, I don’t care for canned fruit. To me, most of it just doesn’t taste the way I think fruit is suppose to taste. In this smoothie, however, canned pears work better than fresh pears. Pears are not in season and can take days to ripen, and who wants to wait for a smoothie? Canned pears are softer and gentler on my much abused blender. Also, the syrup helps intensify the pear flavor. If you want to use fresh pears, go for it, but you will want to add pear nectar or apple juice to get your smoothie going.

If you would like to turn this into a breakfast smoothie, substitute yogurt for half of the blueberries (or use blueberry yogurt instead) and add 2 tablespoons of wheat germ. You could also drain the pears and add 1 cup of soy milk.

1 can (15 oz) pear halves or slices in light syrup
1 cup frozen blueberries
2-3 ice cubes
sprig of mint (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender, including pear syrup. Puree until smooth, adjusting ice to achieve desired consistency. Garnish with mint (if desired).

Makes a tasty snack for one or a healthy dessert for two!