It’s been a while since I’ve done a goofy, gimmicky food review, primarily because I’m trying to be more frugal (more on that in another post one day), but I was in the need for hot chocolate — I drink hot chocolate and/or tea when I’m at the office since I don’t have ready access to coffee and besides, I’m rather sick of coffee by the time I actually each the office portion of the day — and I saw Swiss Miss had a Lucky Charms version that was similar in price to the regular version, $1.98 for six packets of regular Swiss Miss cocoa and six packets of corresponding Lucky Charms marshmallows. No brainer to me! Why not go with the fun version? I like marshmallows in my hot chocolate, and in fact, would argue that marshmallows in hot chocolate is the best version of hot chocolate.
I’m curious how the rest of you folks do hot chocolate, though. I’m still struggling with the mechanics. I don’t mean the fancy homemade stuff. I mean, the packet stuff. It sounds basic: hot water + cocoa powder from said packet + stir = delight, but for one, I’m not good with math, and for two, milk seems to be a richer mix with cocoa powder (but see previous blog post about my issue with milk, and also, that brings up a whole other issue, as I feel like it’s not as much of a concern how long to heat water, but if you go too long on milk, it gets gross) than water. In addition, since I don’t have a tea kettle, which my English ancestors would be rolling in their grave about, what do you do? I’ve tried heating up a glass of water, which I did here, pouring the packet into a coffee mug, and then pouring the hot water into the mug; and I’ve also tried the reverse, pouring in the packet and then cold water into one mug and then heating up the mixture until hot. Neither option is ideal! The first annoys me because now I’m using two glasses to make this happen, and the second is annoying because the texture’s different. Nonetheless! I persisted.
The other obvious problem with hot chocolate — wait for this — is that it’s freaking hot! I am incapable of being patient and waiting for it too cool down enough to drink. Either I’m burning my tongue or I’m drinking lukewarm chocolate. There is no in between here. Like, right now, I’m writing the opening of this blog post while waiting to drink this so I can tell you, the dear reader, how it tastes.
Well, while I wait some more, I can tell you that they are promoting the Swiss Miss Lucky Charms Marshmallows with the hashtag typically associated with the cereal: #magicallydelicious. And if you can believe it, which you can if you’ve ever had Lucky Charms cereal, one envelope of cocoa and one envelope of lucky charms is 180 calories, with 31 grams of total sugars. Wowzers. And let’s be honest, only psychopaths would prefer the frosted toasted oats part of the cereal more than the marshmallows, and Lucky Charms leans into that point:
I don’t disagree! The best part of Lucky Charms — the “magicality” part — is indeed the marshmallows, and as I said, the marshmallows are what help to elevate hot chocolate above, well, simply hot chocolate. It adds that extra note of sweet creaminess.
So, it is cooled down enough now, and yes, it is delicious. If you like marshmallows in your hot chocolate, and we are the same person who picks out the marshmallows to munch on from the Lucky Charms box (and/or the bowl), then this is also a no-brainer for you, too. I would add that maybe it’s a hint sweeter than a typical dropping of marshmallows into hot chocolate, but I’m not complaining. I knew what I was getting into.
Artificial magicality for the win! And I just described all of consumerism. Boom.
Milam's Musings 