Hot Chocolate Machine!

Even a heater doesn’t seem to keep me warm in these 50 degree afternoons and 30 some degree nights.Fortunately for me, after a lot of hunting, I finally invested in a Hot Chocolate maker. Yes, it’s basically the lazy mans blender (without blades) that heats and mixes. This is probably one of the very few times I bought an appliance for just one specific need but you know what? It’s worth every penny and it’s an economic option to fulfill warm cravings in this weather!

I had initially bought the Back to Basics Hot Chocolate machine from Bed Bath and Beyond. It looked kind of like this but I believe it was a newer model and a nicer shade of plastic. It cost $35 and worked wonderfully. I just had to put in my 8 oz of milk and 2 tablespoons of Starbucks hot chocolate mix (bought from Costco at the beginning of the Fall for only $10 – thanks to my cousin in-law, Seema for introducing me to delight) and switch on the button and in two minutes I had a yummy cup of hot chocolate ready. No standing over the stove to mix it or sticking it in the microwave 2-3 times and wondering if it overflowed.

I had stored it away during the holidays to make some room on my counter tops and when I took it back out it decided that it had to long of a break and wouldn’t shut off. Yes, my machine would be on the “off” button but it would still be running. So I had to go return it due to the defect.

Bed Bath & Beyond was awesome for taking it back and they realized they didn’t have any more of these in stock so they offered to exchange it for a the Bialetti Hot Chocolate Maker. It was on clearance for 50% off and they offered an additional discount so I ended up paying $45 for a $100 machine, not bad especially since it used fancier plastic and had a few more features on it.

So far the Bialetti has been good to me. Most of the negative reviews on it have been in regards to the liquid overflowing for larger quantities of hot chocolate. I haven’t had any issues with my 8-16 oz per sue. It’s also much easier to clean than the Back to Basics machine although I do miss that the old one had an automatic restart machine to warm it up again in the case you forgot about your hot chocolate.

If you drink (or buy) a lot of Hot Chocolate it’s worth investing in either one of these machines (depending on your budget). I also made a deal with my self that I would splurge a little less on Starbucks if I bought this machine so it all balances out.

A little bit of this…

With a little bit of that…

PS. The Mr. Coffee Cocomotion machine has one of the best reviews (4.5/5 stars) but they don’t sell them in any stores, only available online and I didn’t want to deal with that.