Love Actually and Orange Clove Hot Chocolate

In the spirit of what is apparently a British tradition of Christmas truth-telling I must confess...I'm a genius.

Putting chocolate, orange, and clove together is one of the most brilliant flavor combinations around. Clove is tricky to work with sometimes because there is a fine line between that tantalizing hint and being completely overpowered.

I paired this one with Love Actually. Despite the bizarre British desire to tell everyone the truth at Christmas (what is that all about?), I love this movie. Who doesn't want a Prime Minister who uses Harry Potter and David Beckham to charmingly tells the sleazy US President to frack off? And Colin Firth with his adorably bad Portuguese is my favorite part. I hope my bad Turkish is that adorable. I got some giggles when I took my cat to the vet and told them that "I want her to not be able to have babies." I thought that was a logical compromise for not knowing the Turkish word for "spay" but they thought it was funny.

Recipe:

• 1 Cup milk
• 1/4 Cup heavy cream
• Zest of one large orange
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon ground clove
• 50-ish grams chopped dark chocolate 

This isn't a recipe to make when you've a whim because the zest has to steep for a bit.

1. Steep the zest in the milk/cream combination for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how impatient you are. I don't have a zester so I used a vegetable peeler to take off the zest in large strips. It's easier to remove the zest from the milk if you do it this way, just make sure to remove any pith.
2. Heat the milk, cream, and zest on low until hot to the touch or you see bubbles forming around the edge. As ever, do not let boil! 
3. Remove zest from milk.
4. Whisk in sugar, clove, and chocolate until everything is smooth an incorporated.
5. Give it a bit of a taste and add clove as desired. Remember, you can always add but you can't take out!

If you're not a zest person and/or don't want to take the time you could instead use and orange flavored chocolate.