Recipe: Hot Buttered Cognac with Chocolate-Dipped Spoons

Hot Buttered Cognac
with Chocolate-Dipped Spoons

Relaxing and decadent on a cold rainy night, this will warm you inside and out.

3-1/2 cups apple cider
6 whole cloves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup Cognac
4 slices butter (about 1/4 inch thick)
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Pour cider, cloves, and lemon juice into small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour into individual mugs, divide Cognac evenly among mugs, and top with a slice of butter. Serve with chocolate-dipped spoons for stirring.

To make spoons:

Melt chocolate in small bowl in a microwave oven (3 minutes on defrost). Dip 4 chilled spoons into melted chocolate about halfway up. Allow chocolate to cool before serving with Cognac. Slowly stir hot Cognac with a chocolate-coated spoon. Serves 4.

From: Chocolate: A Sweet Indulgence
by Sara Slavin and Karl Petzke
Text by Carolyn Miller
Recipes by Sandra Cook
Photos by Karl Petzke
Chronicle Books
$14.95 Paperback ISBN 0-81 18-1591-9
$22.95 Hardcover ISBN 0-8118-1592-7
96 pages; June 1997
Recipes and photos reprinted by permission.