Is your house the kind of house that has many, many different kinds of drinks that all taste relatively similar (Ovaltine, Milo, Bournvita etc.)? Do you enjoy Starbucks' Hot Chocolates? Would you like them more if they were sweeter? And cheaper? Do you like the caffiene "Buzz" that you get from V and Coca-Cola? A slight hint of coffee?
If you answered yes to any of the above, the Milo Vitaccino is a great drink to make for a bit of a different flavour to the regular Tea/Coffee/Milo. It's especially good if you have guests around and a nice kitchen (with a nice microwave - this is important!), because it takes longer to make, and you use many different ingredients - in other words, it makes any kitchen-retarded amateur look like a semi-pro hot drinks connesieur.
Anyway, without further blabble, heres what you'll need to make Milo Vitaccinos :):
Ingredients:
- Milo
- Bournvita (for the right flavour, Milo & Bournvita are rather essential)
**note: Make sure you have two distinctly flavoured food drinks (e.g. milo + ovaltine, bournvita + ovaltine, milo + bournvita etc.) The less sweet they are, the better.
- Drinking Chocolate or Cocoa Powder
- Coffee (good-quality instant is faster, but plunger is more impressive and arguably nicer)
- Sugar (for the right flavour, use white, but if you must you can use those silly little raw sugar crystals..)
- Cinnamon
- Full-creme or Light-creme milk (skim milk ruins the drink a bit)
- Water
Equipment:
- Cups (obviously)
- Boiling water source (jug/drinks maker/.. stove if you must)
- Microwave (as I said above - if you have guests around, make this drink with a NICE looking microwave)
- Coffee plunger (if you're taking the plunger route - I don't have a machine so i'm not sure if it would work)
You're right - thats one mammoth load of ingredients for a drink. Whenever I make myself drinks, I make a Milo Vitaccino, or some variation on the above (perhaps a water-based version as opposed to a milk-based version).
To make this drink, you're first of all going to need patience - at slow pace it can take 12 minutes - I've mastered this down to half that, but even that certainly takes a lot longer than tea/coffee/milo!
Right - now that I've got that out of the way - follow these instructions (in this order) to have yourself a Milo Vitaccino:
1. Find all your ingredients and equipment.
You'll have lots. Have them in front of you - if you have guests around and want to show off the skill, use fancy containers - perhaps coloured glass (a different colour for each ingredient). Line up your cups on your benchtop, and do each step sequentially to each cup.
2. Caffeine preparation.
All you coffee-maniacs, get your plungers ready NOW! If it weren't for the coffee part, this drink would be made entirely with milk - which is exactly why skim milk spoils the flavour and makes it too watery!
This stage is quite hard to explain, but first fill each cup to 1/4 full with boiling water.
Secondly, put in a levelled teaspoon's worth of instant coffee powder into each cup, and stir em around for a bit until the coffee is pretty well dissolved.
If you're using a plunger, you want enough water so each cup can be 1/4 full, and one level teaspoon per cup of coffee powder (depending on the coffee you are using). You'll also need to plunge this coffee ready for the next step.
3. The Mixxie Trixxie
You've got this far - well done - you're coffee addiction didn't make you fill that whole plunger or cup :)
Into each cup, put 1 heaped teaspoon of bournvita (this is assuming you use milo and bournvita - if not, use the sweeter one of the two at this stage - drinking chocolate does NOT count here).
Secondly, put half a teaspoon of milo (or the less sweet one of the two) into the cup.
The important part is that you get a bit over twice as much of the sweeter one than the less sweet one.
Also, into each cup, put a very small amount of cinnamon - a small pinch you could say. Make sure its not too much.
3a. Caffeinating your concoction.
If you made your coffee in a plunger, this is the part where you pour it into each cup to fill the mixture to 1/4 of the cup. Then stir until they're all dissolved.
If you used instant, no need to pour anything, just stir until they're all dissolved.
4. +Milk.
Easy this part - simply add milk to each cup until about 1cm from the top, and stir. The colour at this stage should be similar to that of the milo/bournvita, but with a coffee-ish colour to it.
5. C'mon Microwave - Gimme all you've got!
WAIT! Before you can put this lovely lot into the microwave, you've got to realise that at the moment, its not strong enough to drink. You also want an addition to the flavour.
Grab your handy drinking chocolate or cocoa powder (if you use cocoa powder, you'll definately need sugar later on), and layer a small amount over the top of the drink, but DON'T stir it in - leave it sitting on the top as a thin layer. Gently tap it flat with the bottom of your teaspoon, make sure you dont cause it to sink!
After you've got your film, put this into the microwave for 1 minute or so (i use a fairly old 'wave however, so you might need less time). **NOTE: the more cups you put in, the longer it takes to heat all of them - remember this rule. It's touch-and-go the first few times!
When you take it out you should have a dark bubbly-chocolatey substance on top formed by the drinking chocolate - oh it looks so nice doesn't it? Sorry, you're not allowed to drink it yet. The covering the drinking chocolate made meant that heat only went to the drinking chocolate powder, everything under it remains relatively cold.
So what do you do? You stir. Bye-bye yummy chocolatey stuff! Stir it well.
6. Add final flavour, and re-nuke.
Hopefully you didn't add too much drinking chocolate, otherwise this stage will make your drink too sweet! Plonk in another load of ingredients - this time a level teaspoon of Milo and the same amount of Bournvita (or whichever two you're using). Stir these in well.
Put the drink back in the microwave until its hot enough to drink. Take it out, and stir well.
7. The presentation.
This stage is optional, but if you've got the equipment, its great.
What you'll need is some means of making frothy milk - just like they do with cappuccinos, etc. - This is best done with a machine, but you can buy special frothy milk that froths when you shake it heaps.
Scoop some frothed milk on top of each drink, topped off with a pinch of drinking chocolate, and serve.
Now this is one seriously nice drink - when made with milo, bournvita, and cocoa, its got the 'bite' and flavour of Starbuck's Hot Chocolates, with a mild Coffee backing, and a nice cinnamon hint. I add a heaped teaspoon of sugar to this version, although if you use drinking chocolate for the chocolatey coating, you will probably find it is sweet enough on its own. It's also quite a stunner to see prepared well, if I don't say so myself :)
Some additions that might be worth thinking about:
- a small amount of maple syrip
- a drop of vanilla essence (true vanilla essence is ~50% alcohol, if thats any incentive ;)
- a little bit of caramel sauce or dessert topping stirred into the boiling water mix
- a little bit of chocolate sauce or dessert topping stirred into the boiling water mix
- use brown sugar instead of regular sugar or raw sugar for a slightly different flavour
Hope you enjoy the Milo Vitaccino :)