Hot Cocoa Comfort

Make cocoa an everyday, year-round treat with these body- and soul-warming new takes!

The everyday comfort of true hot cocoa is grounded in memories of grandma’s kitchen, where slow food was a practice, not a movement. And now, rediscovery is in the air—what once was old is new again, with high-end chocolate producers creating pure cocoa powders, and these quality ingredients now compete with coffee in progressive coffeehouses and cafés.

Convivial and resourceful, Cocoa Comfort invites the reader to reconsider the gentle but deep, complex flavor and amazing versatility of made-from-scratch cocoa as a simple pleasure during any moment in daily life, as well as for life’s special occasions. The book recalls cocoa’s ancient origins, offers instructions on tools and techniques for preparation, then stretches palate perspectives with fifty home kitchen-friendly drinks and paired small plates. These delightfully nuanced recipes include:

Malted Hot Cocoa with Toasted Marshmallows

Corn Flakes “Cereal Milk” Hot Cocoa

After-School S’mores Hot Cocoa

Peanut Butter Hot Cocoa

“Good Morning” Hot Cocoa Muffins

Cocoa Dunking Biscuits

Red Wine Hot Cocoa

Cocoa Popcorn

Mexican Hot Cocoa with Chili, Cinnamon, and Mezcal

Lavender Nightcap Hot Cocoa

Consider Cocoa Comfort a re-introduction to an old favorite—with imaginative and original, yet accessible recipes that open the door to new possibilities.

Michael Turback created and nurtured the eponymous Turback’s, one of Upstate New York’s first destination restaurants. His mission combined inventive, passionate cooking with local ingredients, and the daring concept of a wine list with exclusively New York regional wines—this achievement resulted in Wine Enthusiast naming Turback’s “one of the wine-friendliest restaurants in America,” and the restaurant was awarded “Best American Wine List” by Restaurant Business. Michael is also the author of Cocktails at Dinner, ReMixology, and What a Swell Party It Was, all from Skyhorse Publishing. He resides in Ithaca, New York.