The recipe for Divine Hot Chocolate that Kelly Estes posted looks relatively easy and super delicious, but I’m lazy (hence the feverish devotion to my Keurig). So to that end, I’d like to share a simple way to give any hot chocolate a little kick, whether it be fancy, or made from a powder.

I was over at a friend’s house recently, and she had the Food Network on. They were talking about Jacques Torres Chocolate in New York; specifically the Wicked Hot Chocolate that he makes there. Obviously, it’s made with a crapload of real chocolate, and it also features a dollop of whipped cream so heavy and solid that it looks as though you’re ordering your hot chocolate a la mode. That, however, isn’t what struck me. What struck me is that he used chipotle peppers in it. Maybe I’m naive, but using a ingredient for chili never occurred to me vis a vis hot chocolate.

I’m sure it’s a secret recipe, so they don’t go into the amounts of the spices, but in addition to chipotle and ancho chili peppers, they also use cinnamon and allspice. So while I couldn’t recreate it myself, I knew that 9 out of 10 times I wouldn’t want to bother anyway– so I experimented.

I went into the cabinet, grabbed my cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and my nearly empty bottle of ground chipotle peppers (we like things spicy here). While I’ve long added cinnamon to my coffee and hot chocolate, this was new for me. There’s no real recipe, I just threw in a dash of each spice into my empty mug and placed it under the Keurig. About a minute later, I had a delightful cup of steaming hot chocolate with what looked like dirt floating around in it.

Not one to be overly concerned about such things, I just grabbed the whipped cream out of the fridge and, voila! If you cover it up, it’s totally cool. I took a sip, and I was in heaven. You wouldn’t think that chipotle pepper would be a good idea, but the other flavors mask it, leaving just the spice behind. It’s a lovely drink, and in an instant you can feel all warm and fuzzy. Even though the holidays are over, you can make this and feel like it’s Christmas morning all over again.

Here’s something kind of weird. I didn’t drink coffee until I was 25. I had tried it, and although I always thought that the smell was an intoxicating glimpse into what heaven would be, I never liked the taste. However, a guy happened to ask me out for coffee, and I didn’t want to be a dork and order tea or hot chocolate, so I had a cup. And then another. And then another. And while I haven’t spoken to the guy in years (he turned out to be a major d-bag), my love affair with coffee remains.

Maybe it’s because the first cup of coffee that I enjoyed was from a diner, but I’ve never gotten into the whole fancy coffee thing. I just like a cup of coffee, the more diner-y the better. My sister-in-law grinds her own beans and has a french press, and it’s just way too much work for me. I need my coffee right now. I don’t have ten minutes to get into a staring contest with it. What kind of bullshit exercise in torture is that? Luckily, I discovered the pinnacle in quick coffee achievement: the Keurig.

I discovered the coffee pod thing while I was doing market research at an airport. Most of the first class lounges had them, and I instantly fell in love. I had a regular coffee maker at home, and while that was fine, I don’t drink a dozen cups of coffee a day, so I would always inevitably waste some. Plus, it would sit in the pot for hours and then the pot would get stained, and on and on and on.

Enter the Keurig: Coffee? Done. Tea? Done. Hot chocolate? Done. There’s something for everybody. I can get the variety pack and have everything at my fingertips instead of having a freezer full of different flavored coffees, and a pantry full of hot chocolate and varieties of tea.

Ever since I had a baby, it’s been a godsend. When it’s 6 AM and you have an infant who constantly needs your attention, I for one can’t manage much more than pushing a button to release the sweet, caffeinated goodness into my face. I’m sure grinding your own beans is great, but short of an intravenous drip, this is the holy grail for me.